Black Blood at Hogwarts
by aspecialkindofhuman
Summary: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. A place full of magic, friendship, and . . . Black Blood? When Soul and Maka head to Hogwarts on a mission they run into an unexpected enemy who promotes the growth of madness in others. Will Soul be able to handle himself in the face of such darkness? Can the gang pull through against all that Black Blood?
1. Sorting Hat Part One: Maka and Soul

Hey! So this is a weird one. I thought of it really late at night and just had to write it down and this is the result. It's a Soul Eater Hogwarts crossover. Odd pairing, I know, but we'll see how this goes. I was thinking I would do three parts about Soul/Maka, Kid/Liz/Patty, and Black Star/Tsubaki's experience to Hogwarts, but as I started to write this I realized I actually had a lot more to say about it than I thought I did.  
We'll see. It'll probably be a six-part, maybe seven-part series. It'll be three at the least, but, like I said, we'll see how it goes. Hope you like it and I'll post Sorting Part Two later on (probs tomorrow, cause I'm sleepy)

DISCLAIMER: Neither the Soul Eater universe nor Harry Potter one are mine.

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Sorting: Part One

**Maka and Soul**

"Whoa! Look at this, Soul!" Maka's eyes were bright as she threw her gaze around the wide stone entryway. "Isn't this amazing!"

Soul flashed her a pointy grin. "Yeah. This is way cool, Maka."

They walked together through the front hallway of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, soaking in the impressive stone arches and high ceilings. Soul wheeled both their trunks behind them and kept a firm grip on Maka's hand as she darted forward to admire the building's ancient stonework. Throughout the entire train ride here, she'd been pondering about the school's interior - a controversial rumor at the DWMA - and now that they were here she couldn't keep her eyes off it.

They reached a bend in the long hallway and stepped out onto a protruding stone balcony. Above them, a hundred separate staircases moved and swung in different directions, connecting and disconnecting from stone balconies similar to the one they were standing on.

"Incredible," she gasped, resting her chin on her hands. "We're so lucky to be the first DWMA students allowed in here."

"Come on, Maka." Soul tugged on her hand. "We're already late."

She sighed and followed him down the rest of the hall until they reached a large set of wooden doors. With a gentle creak, they swung inward, revealing a huge room filled with people. Four long tables took up the main space of the room, stacked with food and seating nearly a hundred students apiece. Flickering candles hung suspended in the air, casting a bright glow over the students and illuminating the starry night sky that melted through the room's ceiling.

"W-o-w." Soul breathed, threading his fingers through Maka's as they walked through the center line of tables. "This place is . . ." He shook his head. "It's indescribable."

"I'm so glad we got the Hogsmeade mission!" Maka spun in a circle, giggling, trying to look at everything in the room at once. "This school is amazing."

Soul shrugged coolly, but was unable to hide his grin. "It's not the DWMA, that's for sure. The architecture's way off."

"No skulls and crossbones here!" Maka smiled, tugging at his hand.

"Well, look at that! New students!" A shadowy man floated down from the ceiling to greet them. He was dressed in a thick coat with outrageous ruffles at the neck and sleeves. He smiled at the two of them and his skin flashed a light blue color.

"Whoa. Are you a ghost?" Soul leaned forward, narrowing his eyes to inspect the man's blurred outline.

He lowered his head in a gentlemanly bow. "My name is –"

His ghostly head detached from his body and fell onto his chest, connected to the neck by a thin strip of skin. The skin on his neck peeled back, revealing a thick mass of ghostly blood and bone.

Maka squealed and jumped high into the air, landing behind Soul as the ghost straightened, flushing darkly.

"Ah. Sorry about that. Happens a lot." He smiled sheepishly and floated away, waving kindly at the cowering Maka.

"Chill out, Maka. It's just a little blood." Soul squeezed her hand as she moved around beside him, shaking slightly in her combat boots.

A vein throbbed at her temple. "_A little_?!"

"I'm sure it's not the first we'll see here." His hand tightened around hers. "No matter what happens, don't go running off on me, okay?"

She nodded, flashing him a small smile. "We stick together."

"Welcome, Soul and Maka!"

A booming voice echoed through the Great Hall and the whispered chatter of the Hogwarts students dwindled into nothing. A tall man with a trailing white beard stood up from a table at the head of the room and smiled at the two DWMA students. Bright, intelligent eyes twinkled behind a pair of half-moon glasses as he extended his arms out to encompass the room.

"I am Professor Dumbledore. Headmaster of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." The man bowed slightly and his glasses flashed brightly in the candlelight. "Welcome to our school. We hope you enjoy your stay here and learn from us as we intend to learn from you. My colleagues and I have taken the liberty to enroll you two into a few extra-curricular classes to complete when not on your mission in the Hogsmeade village. We hope you enjoy these classes and remember us kindly at your school when you return." The man smiled again and sat down, nodding to one of the teachers lined up at the table beside him.

"Wait, what?" Soul took a startled step back. "We have to take classes while we're here?"

"Lord Death didn't say anything about that . . ." Maka frowned and a shallow furrow formed between her brows.

They exchanged a worried glance.

A prim older woman in a long green dress stepped in front of the room holding a ratty pointed hat in her hand. "In order to get the most out of your stay here, we ask that you and your partner be assigned to one of our four houses according to your character. Ravenclaw for the wise, Hufflepuff for the loyal, Gryffindor for the brave, and Slytherin for the cunning." She cleared her throat and fixed her eyes on the two confused DWMA students. "Maka, if you wouldn't mind." – she patted a low wooden stool with her free hand – "come up here and we can begin the sorting."

Maka exchanged a brief look with her weapon partner and stepped forward shyly. "Okay. I guess."

"Maka, wait." Soul reached for her hand, but she shrugged him off.

"It's okay, Soul. We're here to help these people. They wouldn't do anything to hurt us." Her hands trembled lightly as she spoke.

Carefully, Maka lowered herself onto the wooden stool, holding Soul's ruby gaze.

"Don't be afraid, child," the teacher said, just before she slipped the hat over Maka's head. "This won't hurt you."

The hat slid gently over Maka's pigtails and came to rest almost completely over her green eyes. It smelled older than it looked and Maka sneezed twice as the hat shifted, adjusting to a comfortable position on her pigtailed head.

"Hmmm. I have to think about you," the hat murmured and Maka gasped.

"It speaks," she breathed.

"Really?" croaked the old hat. "Your best friend turns into a weapon and you think a talking hat is weird," he scoffed. "You're definitely a strange one, Maka Albarn."

"Maka?" Soul's voice was muffled through the hat. "What's going on?"

"You're intelligent, that's certain. Incredibly so. And a bookworm, to boot. But there's something else. Something . . . _different_ about you."

"Maka!" Soul's voice was still muffled, but closer than before..

"Relax, child. This is a part of the process." The teacher beside Maka rested a hand on the girl's shivering shoulder. "You'll see."

Soul's muttered response was lost to Maka's ears.

"Hufflepuff is a no. And Slytherin is also out of the question, rule follower."

Maka's cheeks heated.

"Hmm . . . let me . . . Ah. I see. You're brave, Maka. That's what's different about you. You're brave _and_ intelligent. A good combination. I sorted a girl like you once. Put her in Gryffindor, if I remember correctly. Think that'll be a good fit for you? Hmmm?"

Maka didn't know what bravery the old hat was talking about because she was pretty sure her knees were shaking on that wooden stool.

"In that case . . ." the hat continued through her silence. "GRYFFINDOR!" The hat shouted. His screech, and the rousing applause that followed, rattled Maka's teeth and echoed in her eardrums for days afterward.

She quickly lept off the stool and yanked the hat off her head, handing it back to the smiling teacher. She locked her shaking knees and refused to look at Soul, taking deep breathes until she felt that the eyes of the Hogwarts students were off of her shivering form.

"Soul Eater!" The teacher cried, holding the hat out to Soul. "It's your turn to be sorted."

Soul was watching Maka warily as she flattened her palms against her frizzy hair. The musty hat had tugged some strands loose and she worked feverishly to straighten them, hoping to hide her shaky hands in her work.

He sat down on the stool, baring his teeth at the hat in a pointy grin. "Okay, old thing," he told it, jamming it down on top of his spiky hair. "Do your worst."

Maka twisted her hands together as the hat shifted on Soul's head. She bit her lip and dug the toes of her combat boots into the ground as she waited for it to come to a decision.

"Maka." The old teacher laid a hand on Maka's shoulder and she jumped, tearing her gaze away from her stone-faced weapon.

"You may sit down now, child. Over there." The professor nodded in the direction of the first long table. Above it hung gleaming banners of red and gold with a roaring lion emblazoned on the fabric.

Maka looked back at her weapon partner. "But Soul . . .?"

"Will be joining you shortly. Now go." The professor nudged her towards the tables and Maka went unwillingly, nearly tripping down the three short steps to reach the table.

There were a few empty seats at the head of the table and Maka took one, frowning at the enormous pile of food sitting in front of her. The people around her began to introduce themselves, but their voices faded into the back of Maka's mind. She kept her anxious gaze on Soul, watching his red eyes trace back and forth beneath the brim of the old hat. A sideways, frowning mouth appeared in the side of the old felt and two strained eyes narrowed as the hat conversed with Soul.

_Please_. Maka's hands clenched around the bottom of her Spartoi skirt. _Please let Soul be sorted into Gryffindor. I don't think I can do this without him._

"Don't worry." A hand fell on Maka's shoulder and a polite voice whispered into her ear. "Your friend will be in Gryffindor."

Maka turned around hesitantly. A smiling girl with bushy brown hair and matching brown eyes blinked at her, retracting her hand from Maka's shoulder. Behind her, sat two boys: one with dark hair and glasses and the other with a mop of ginger hair. The ginger speared a hunk of meat and stuffed it into his mouth, nodding encouragingly at Maka and the dark-haired boy shared a smile with her, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"H-how do you know?" Maka stuttered nervously, returning her gaze to the confident eyes of the brown-haired girl.

"We know the type," the ginger said around a mouthful of food, nodding towards Soul.

Maka turned around to face the trio and her hands loosened around the fabric of her skirt "Really?"

They nodded, smiling brightly at her.

Maka turned back around as Soul tipped the brim of the hat up. He found Maka's gaze and his shoulders slumped forward. He blinked slowly and a confused scowl twisted his mouth down. Maka's heart dropped into her toes and her hands fisted around the fabric of her skirt as his expression darkened.

Soul looked away from her as the hat opened its mouth in a loud scream.


	2. Sorting Hat Part Two: Death the Kid

Here's the next part! Sorry for the cliffhanger, I just couldn't resist. At least, I didn't make you wait for it. I was going to do Black Star next, but Kid is just so much fun to play with so he's the next to get sorted. Hope you like it :)  
Oh and please ignore my attempt at Mr. Filch's accent. It's really terrible, but at least I tried -_-

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own anything. Kay.

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Sorting: Part Two

**Kid, Liz, and Patty**

"Great Hall is this way, sir," the greasy man snorted, swinging his lantern down the dim hallway. A small cat meowed about his ankles, blinking at Kid through slitted yellow eyes.

Lord Death's son stepped on the end of his skateboard, pushing it up into his sleeve with a dark flash of his reaper magic. "Yes, I understand that. Now would you please direct me towards the Dispensary," he said tiredly.

The man looked at him through a veil of dark greasy hair. "The wot?"

"The Dispensary." Kid slipped his hands into the pockets of his crisply tailored suit, adjusting the skull tie that hung beneath his neck. "My father sent me here to investigate a strange sickness plaguing your students and I would like to get started on my work before the day ends."

"I don't know what you mean," the man sniffed, wiping his sweaty forehead with a greasy cloth. "What's a dis-pen-c-ary?"

"Dis-pen-sa-ry," Kid said slowly, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Sort of like a hospital."

The light cast by the glowing lantern scattered wildly about the wall as the greasy old caretaker swung it at Kid's dark head. "You 'avin a go at me, old Mr. Filch? The rotten Squib? You 'avin a go at me, huh?"

"What on earth are you talking about? What's a _Squib_?" Kid ducked as the lantern crashed against the wall near his head. Sparks burst on the stone and a black scorch mark burned horizontally down the wall. "AND WOULD YOU QUIT SWINGING THAT THING, YOU'RE GOING TO HIT ME!"

"Special guest or not," Mr. Filch growled, clenching his fist around the lantern's rusty handle. "I won't let you 'ave a go at me."

With a sharp jerk, Kid yanked Liz and Patty out of his breast pocket, aiming the twin pistols directly between the caretaker's squinty eyes.

A muscle jumped in Kid's clenched jaw. "Don't make me use them," he hissed, resting his pinky fingers on the triggers. "Now, point me in the direction of the Hospital Wing."

Mr. Filch's knees knocked together as he slowly put his hands up into the air. "Please don't hurt me, sir," he said shakily, closing his eyes. "Please, I'll do whatever you want. Just please don't hurt the old Squib."

"THE NURSES'S OFFICE!" A vein throbbed near Kid's temple. "NOW!"

Mr. Filch's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Is that all you're after?"

Kid's left eye twitched.

"Hey, Kid!" Liz transformed into her human form and put her hand on her hip, poking her meister in the side. "Not that I'm trying to skip work or anything, but isn't it a little late to pay a visit to the school nurse?"

"I don't want to be here any longer than we have to," Kid said primly. "The air here isn't right." He held a handkerchief over his nose.

Liz's eyes rolled into the back of her head. "Spoiled rich kids," she muttered as her sister giggled madly, still in her weapon form. "Anyway, aren't we supposed to be at the Great Hall right now?" she continued, propping her hands on her bare midriff. "I bet Soul and Maka are waiting for us."

"We have to remember why my father sent us here, Liz." Kid released Patty and she quickly transformed back into a human, shivering with the force of her giggles. He straightened his suit and flicked a speck of dust off the shoulder, sliding his hands into his pockets. "We need to get started on the mission straight away or else this entire school is at risk of being infected."

"And we will," Liz said firmly, planting her feet. "But right now we need to meet up with our team members and get some something to eat. I'm starving!" Liz hooked her meister under the armpits and began to tow him away, headed in the direction of the Great Hall.

"But, but, but-!" he stuttered, dragging his feet.

"Thanks for the directions, mister!" Patty waved to Mr. Filch and skipped down the hall after her sister, giggling happily and singing under her breathe.

"Hmph." Mr. Filch picked up his lantern and smoothed back his greasy hair, bending down to lightly stroke his cat's back. "I wasn't scared at all, was I, Mrs. Norris?"

The cat blinked in the lantern's yellow light.

"Wow, this place is beautiful!" Liz clasped her hands to her chest and looked wildly about the Great Hall, smiling brightly. "Patty, look at the candles! They're floating! And the stars! They look like they're right above us!"

"Ooohh!" Patty pointed, rocking back on her heels. "They're so pretty, sis!"

"THE SYMMETRY!" Kid's face flushed with bright emotion. His eyes sparkled and he placed his palms on either side of his head, smiling widely.

"Here we go," Liz muttered under her breathe.

"The four tables are perfectly aligned with two on each side of the room! And the windows on the right side are the exact same height and width as the windows on the left! Oh, and just look at those gargoyle wall scones!" Kid rambled, floating about the lengthy room.

Liz dropped her face into her palm. "Could you not?"

"IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL!" he cried.

"Oh, boy."

Patty erupted into a loud fit of giggles as Kid skipped up the center row of the Great Hall, gushing about the perfect symmetry of the room.

"The food on the right side . . . and the plates and the silverware . . . and the teachers chairs . . . !"

Liz rolled her eyes to the right.

She stopped and tugged on Kid's sleeve.

"Hey, look! It's Maka!" She pointed to the first of the long wooden tables above which hung several banners of red and gold. "Hold on." There was no sign of Maka's white-haired weapon partner. "Where's Soul?"

Patty leaned around her older sister. "Is Maka . . . crying?"

"WHAT?" Kid jerked to a halt.

"Look, that girl's comforting her!" Patty pointed.

"Maka?" Kid strolled up to the table calmly and dropped down in front of her. "Are you alright? Where's Soul?"

"Hey, I don't think you can –" the brown-haired girl started to protest but Kid cut her off with a menacing glare.

"Hey, Maka." Liz and Patty knelt on either side of Kid, looking worriedly at their dejected friend. "What's wrong? Talk to me."

He tilted her chin up and Kid inspected her face carefully, noting the tightness in her eyes and the downward tilt of her mouth. Maka's cheeks were dry, but Patty was right, there was definitely something wrong with her. Her expression was cold and flat and her green eyes held none of their usual warmth. There was something . . . _off_ about her expression that rattled Kid's nerves. He tried to maintain a calm, collected air, but his yellow eyes flashed with worry for his friend.

"Maka, where's Soul?" Kid repeated.

She shook her head numbly.

"He's not with you?" Kid's eyebrows rose to meet his hairline.

"He's over there." Maka pointed.

Kid stood and looked towards the farthest table. Soul's bright white hair stood out apart from the rest at a table littered with green and silver. A snake hung above the table and Kid cringed. His thoughts flashed to a similar tattoo on the arm of the Witch Medusa and his face darkened considerably.

"I don't know what happened. We got . . . _sorted_ and he -" Her eyes dropped to the floor and her shoulders quivered slightly.

"That's weird," Patty whispered and Liz elbowed her sharply in the side.

"Maka." Kid knelt in front of his friend. "You'll see him tomorrow. We're taking the same classes so it's not like splitting us up into different rooms can keep us totally separate. And besides, you two have that mission in Hogsmeade; you'll see plenty of Soul then, trust me."

Maka shook her head roughly and her pigtails smacked against the sides of her cheeks. "It's not that." Her chin rose and Kid saw pained desperation mixed with worry in her eyes. "You should've seen his expression. It was like he was . . ." she trailed off and her face fell again. "Like the _black blood_ was affecting him again."

Kid rocked back on his heels. Shock rolled across his face, but something akin to a nod jerked his chin up and down. His heart sank into his toes as a cruel, involuntary thought took shape in his mind: _Already?_

He extinguished the thought as quickly as possible, grateful that Maka was looking down at the ground and not at him. But the girl behind her watched Kid with sharp, intelligent eyes. She kept her eyes on his as he worked to master his expression. Her eyebrows tipped upwards, but he looked away, curling his hands into fists.

"I'll keep an eye on him." Kid stood, slipping his hands in his pockets.

"I'm his partner." Maka's hands shook in her lap. "I should be the one to do it."

"Don't worry about it, Maka." Kid took his gaze off his friend to meet the suspicious glances of the trio sitting behind her. A few more students turned his way, blinking cautiously at the young reaper. "Soul will be fine."

She and Kid locked eyes for a moment before Maka nodded, looking back down at her lap. Liz and Patty moved forward to hug their friend, smiling brightly to mask their inner dread.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Liz whispered to Patty as they moved toward the front of the room. An elderly teacher waited for them, wrinkled hands on her hips.

"So do I." Kid kept his gaze forward, but his thoughts lingered over his worried friend. "My father sends us here to investigate a case of madness –"

"And then Soul has trouble with his black blood . . ." Liz interrupted.

"You're right." Kid slid forward onto the stool, under the watchful gaze of the headmaster. "It can't be a coincidence."

"It's an honor, Death the Kid," the headmaster said, standing up from his chair as the Sorting Hat slid over kid's asymmetrical head.

Kid slid him a look, turning away to face the whole student body of Hogwarts. Off to the right, Soul lifted his red gaze to meet Kid's, blinking mournfully at him. On his left, Maka sat with her knees curled into her chest, watching Kid with wide fearful eyes.

"Don't worry, Maka," Kid muttered as the hat screamed his House choice.

"SLYTHERIN!"

Both Maka and Soul relaxed their frigid postures. Kid nearly smiled; their tension eased at almost the exact same moment - they really were the best duo at the academy.

"I'll keep an eye on Soul," he continued, passing the hat off to the eldest Thompson sister. "I won't let the black blood get a hold of him."


	3. Sorting Hat Part Three: Black Star

Hey! Sorry, everybody! I meant to post a chapter last night, but I totally forget. So I made this one a little longer to make up for it. Oh, and in case you hadn't noticed, I like switching POV's. I tried to make it as simple as possible, but if you find the switching to be too complicated, just tell me and I'll tone it down a bit. Hope you like it! :)

**DISCLAIMER**: I. Don't. Own. Anything. Do I really have to keep saying this?

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Sorting: Part Three

**Death the Kid**

"PATTTTYYYY!" Tears flowed freely down Liz's cheeks in long crystal tracks.

She clung to her sister's waist with strong arms, crying into her exposed belly. "I'LL MISS YOUUU!"

"There, there, sis." Patty patted her older sister's head gently. "It's only for a few days."

"I'LL MISS YOU EVERY SECOND!" Liz sniffed, wiping snot from her nose.

"Yeah, okay." Patty disentangled herself from her sister's arms and sat her down at a table adorned with yellow and black banners. "Bye, sis!"

Tears pooled in Liz's bright eyes. "Stay strong, Patty."

"Byeeee!" Patty giggled, skipping off in the direction of the Gryffindor table. She hooked a chair near Maka and sat down, loading a plate with food.

Liz sniffed and put her head down on her arms, poking at an elaborate hunk of roast beef sitting in front of her.

"Need a tissue?" a voice asked by her shoulder.

Liz blew her nose on a yellow handkerchief, smiling gratefully. "That's my sister, you know," she said, handing back the snotty handkerchief with a watery smile. She pointed towards Patty with her fork and tears began streaming down her cheeks again. "MY LITTLE SISTER!"

On the other side of the room, Kid sat down beside Soul, clasping an arm around his friend's shoulders. "You alright, Soul?"

The corner of his mouth tipped up in a caustic grin. "I'm cool."

Kid peered at him through half-lidded yellow eyes. "Uh huh."

"Is Maka worried about me?" Soul turned away and speared a piece of meat, tearing at it with his pointy teeth.

"She's your partner," Kid said simply.

"Tell her I'm fine," Soul said around a mouthful. "She worries too much."

Kid's gaze swept to where Maka sat on the other side of the room. "She saw your face after the hat sorted you."

Soul froze mid-chew. He took his time swallowing and inspected the meat on the end of his fork carefully. "And?"

Kid leaned in, grabbing a piece of bread off the platter at the center of the table. "How's your scar?" He shot the white-haired weapon a meaningful look.

The fork in Soul's hand clattered to the tabletop. Kid glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, calmly munching on the bread's crust. Soul's right hand was fisted around the material of his shirt, right above the lengthy scar that traced from his left shoulder down to his right hip. His ruby eyes were wide and his breath was quick and sharp.

"It hurts," he said after a minute and his hand loosened around the fabric of the shirt. A tired grin curled his lips up. "But it's nothing I can't handle. I won't let the black blood get the jump on me."

"Think that's why you got sorted into Slytherin?" Kid finished off the last of his bread and reached for another piece.

Soul shot the young reaper a wary look. "Huh?"

Kid shrugged. "From what've I heard, this house has a pretty nasty reputation. And the black blood is the only thing that fits the bill."

Soul shook his head and poked at his half-eaten food with his fork. "I don't know, Kid. These kids seem pretty nice."

"They're not like Medusa, that's for sure." Kid looked around the crowded hall.

Witches and wizards from all walks of life sat laughing and chatting together, sharing smiles and swapping stories over enormous piles of food. The room glowed with the happy force of their souls, powerful in their own right, but nothing compared to the strength of the souls at the head of the room. But aside from the student's raw strength, there was something joyous in the way their souls' wavelengths bounced off each other.

He felt, as he knew Maka did, that the appearance of the DWMA students had generated a large wave excitement that washed over and consumed the souls of the room. The Hogwarts students could barely contain their curiosity as they watched the strange newcomers out of the corners of their eyes.

Kid smiled and bit into his bread. "It feels good to know they're some witches and wizards in the world willing to side with the DWMA."

"Yeah," Soul said, chewing absently on a hunk of meat. "Sure does. Makes everything we're doing worthwhile, right, Kid?"

Kid grinned. "Right."

"Anyway, I'll be fine. I'll talk to Maka about it tomorrow, so don't worry about me okay?" Soul turned in his chair and searched the crowd at the Gryffindor table for his ashy blonde meister.

"She's pretty cute." A high sneering voice reached across the table towards Soul and Kid. "Her chest is as flat as a boy's though."

Both Soul and Kid stiffened, swiveling in their chairs towards the direction of the voice. A boy with slick blonde hair grinned across the table. His eyes were past the DWMA students, leering in the direction of the Gryffindor table.

"Come off it, Malfoy." A chubby boy nudged the blonde in the side, speaking around a mouthful of mashed potatoes. "She looks like a little girl with those pigtails."

Malfoy shrugged, running his tongue over his pale upper lip. "It's a nice uniform though. Better than anything the girls have here." He and his friends laughed boisterously, grinning at Maka's exposed skin.

The fork in Soul's hand snapped in half.

The first line of Sanzu connected in a solid white circle around Kid's head.

The Slytherin table rattled nosily as Soul and Kid stood up with angry lines etched across their foreheads. They leaned across the table and Soul's hand fisted around Malfoy's green tie. He jerked him upright and the boy cowered as Soul's right arm flashed a bright blue.

"What did you say about Maka?" Kid growled. Dark skulls danced in the palms of his hands as his reaper magic bloomed at full strength.

"What the hell?" Malfoy's hands batted weakly at Soul's grip. "Put me down, you red-eyed freak!"

"I won't let you touch my meister." Soul jerked the slimy boy across the tabletop. "You got me?"

Soul released him and Malfoy fell to the ground, scrambling away from the weapon on all fours. "Whatever, freak." Malfoy stood, brushing dust off his school uniform with shaky hands. "My father will hear about this!"

Kid and Soul exchanged uneasy glances and sat down, crossing their arms over their chest and flicking their gazes back towards their partners.

"This mission isn't going to be cool at all," Soul muttered, tipping his head back towards the starry ceiling.

**Maka**

A vein throbbed near Maka's temple. "Getting in trouble on his first day," she said, shaking her head tiredly. "That is so like him."

Patty giggled madly, folding her hands around her stomach. "Soul sure is funny," she laughed, pointing to Maka's white-haired weapon partner. "I thought for sure he was going to kill that blonde boy!"

A dark-haired teacher with a long black coat hovered at the front of the Slytherin table, accosting both Soul and Kid with a pointing finger. The blonde boy stood nearby with his arms crossed over his chest, smiling smugly. Maka sighed heavily and turned away, but her mind flipped back to the brief confrontation that had passed between Soul and the blonde boy.

"I don't understand," she muttered, resting her chin in her hands. "Soul's usually so chill. What did that boy say that could've gotten him so riled up?"

"It's Malfoy." The ginger speared another hunk of beef and stuck it in his mouth. "He has an incredible knack for pissing people off."

Maka raised an eyebrow in his direction.

"I've change my mind." The ginger grinned around his mouthful of food. He swallowed nosily and turned to watch the nameless teacher yell at Maka's weapon. "I like that kid. Even if he did get sorted into Slytherin."

"That's Professor Snape." The brown-haired girl pointed to the dark teacher. "And that's Draco Malfoy." She pointed to the blonde boy. "His father is Lucius Malfoy, one of the richest men in the wizarding world."

"And also one of the meanest." The boy with the glasses added, glaring at Malfoy from under his mop of thick black hair.

"Hey, Maka!" Patty jabbed the skinny meister in the side with her elbow, pointing to the large double doors at the end of the Great Hall. "Look who decided to join the party."

The large doors swung open with a creaky moan. Two figures stood inside the shadowy entrance hall, just outside the range of light cast by the floating candles. The taller of the two figures slid her arms behind her back and bent to whisper something into the shorter one's ear. The smaller figure brushed her off and stepped forward dramatically, propping his hands on his hips.

"YAHOOO!"

Maka's head hit the table with a loud thunk as Patty erupted into a fresh fit of giggles. "Oh no," she moaned. "Why'd _he_ have to come here too?"

"I AM THE GREAT BLACK STAR!" the newcomer, a short boy with spiky blue hair, jumped onto the nearest table and struck a pose, grinning crazily. "BASK IN MY PRESCENE WHICH IS AS GLORIOUS AS THE RAY'S OF THE SUN!"

"Black Star!" Tsubaki raced after her crazy meister, reaching out to catch ahold of his sleeve. "I think you should get down from there! You're standing on top of their food."

"WHAT DOES THAT MATTER?" Black Star crowed, flashing his muscles at the stunned Hogwarts students. "THESE WITCHES AND WIZARDS SHOULD FEEL BLESSED TO BE IN MY PRESENCE! I AM THE ONE WHO WILL SURPASS GOD!"

"Umm, Maka?" the girl behind her tapped kindly on her shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"Kill me please," Maka muttered gloomily as Patty giggled wildly beside her.

**Soul**

"Well, look who it is." Soul grinned as Black Star raced up the aisle towards him. The two boys fist-bumped as Tsubaki chased after her meister. "Didn't think you were ever going to show up, Black Star."

"I had some training with Stein to finish back at the academy," Black Star boasted, grabbing an untouched chicken leg off Soul's plate. He ripped off a piece and swallowed it quickly. Stringy pieces of chicken hung out of his mouth as he grinned. "No biggie."

"I'm sure it wasn't." Soul rolled his ruby eyes.

"Hey, Kid! What's up?" Black Star held out a greasy fist for Kid to bump, but the young reaper drew his hand back with a pained look.

"Black Star," he said, sliding away from the young assassin. "Nice to see you."

"Black Star!" Tsubaki finally caught up with her meister. She rested her elbows on her knees, breathing heavily. "They're waiting for us up front. I think we have to –"

"Where's Maka?" Black Star interrupted. Tsubaki's face dropped and she sighed tiredly. "I don't see her anywhere." He blinked and looked up and down the table for Soul's flat-chested meister.

"She's over there." Soul jerked his thumb to the other side of the room where his meister sat. "We got sorted into different houses."

"WHAT?!" Black Star's chest shook with the force of his laughter. "Are you kidding me? You and Maka got separated! That's a laugh! You two live together, I never thought you'd manage to get separated on a mission away from Death City!"

A vein throbbed in Soul's temple. "Yeah, it's real, funny, isn't it?"

"Is Maka alright?" Tsubaki clasped her hands in front of her chest, glancing over at her friend. "I better go check on her . . ."

"Excuse me." Professor Snape narrowed his eyes at Black Star and his upper lip curled in obvious disgust. "But I don't think you belong here, boy."

Black Star held Snape's gaze as he tore off another piece of chicken with his teeth. "I'm going to surpass God someday," he said, turning away from the crusty old potions teacher. He finished off the last of the chicken leg and cracked the bone, noisily sucking out the marrow. "I do what I want, Pops."

Snape reached down and yanked on the boy's ear, dragging him forward past the Slytherin table. "Not at this school, _boy_," the old teacher spat in Black Star's ear.

"Black Star!" Tsubaki cried, racing after her red-faced meister.

"PUT ME DOWN, OLD MAN!" Black Star cried as Snape dragged him to where Professor McGonagall waited with the Sorting Hat. "I AM THE ONE WHO WILL SURPASS GOD! YOU'LL REGRET THIS! I'LL MAKE YOU PAY!"

"He's so stupid," Soul muttered, watching as the old talking hat was forcibly thrust onto Black Star's blue head.

"I wish he'd grow up," Kid sighed as the hat screamed the House choices for Black Star and Tsubaki.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Well, this isn't good," Soul said as he watched Black Star take a seat near Maka.

Kid shrugged. "I'm sure Maka will be able to handle Black Star. He's annoying, but he seems to like her –"

Soul shook his head. "It's not that." His gaze found his meister across the large space that separated them. Then he turned and traced his eyes across the other meisters and weapons scattered about the crowded hall. His ruby eyes tightened. "We're all split up."

Kid turned to the white-haired weapon and his eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What do you mean?"

"The meisters are separate from the weapons." Soul shrugged, but his mouth tipped down in a worried frown. His hand unconsciously traced the rugged scar he'd received trying to protect his meister. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that someone planned it that way."

Kid's gaze slid to the row of teachers at the front of the room. They ate and drank silently, watching the revelry of their students with tired eyes. Kid found the dark gaze of Professor Snape and the twinkling eyes of the headmaster, but behind their faces hid a dark secret. It was obvious in the tight lines around the lips and the heavy shrug of their shoulders.

"They're hiding something," Kid whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

"Yeah," Soul muttered, watching Maka with careful eyes. "Looks like it's up to us to figure out what it is."

_But they're not the only ones hiding secrets._

* * *

There you go. Hope you enjoyed it! I just wanted to say that I had to throw in that bit with Malfoy because while SoulxMaka are my OTP, I do occasionally ship MakaxKid, as you can probably tell. Sorry about that, but Malfoy was just asking for it. Okay. I'll post something else pretty soon. Hope you enjoyed.


	4. First Night

Here's the new chapter! Thanks for all the support everyone! I really didn't think anybody would like this and the fact that people do . . . well, its just so cool for me! This chapter has some SoMa in it so be glad!  
**PLEASE READ: VERY IMPORTANT**: I do quite a bit of introducing in this chapter but I know I missed people and that's okay. Because right now I'm only introducing the people that I'm going to be working with a lot, so the main cast of characters basically. I know I've missed people and I'll probably have to go back and add more people from the HP world, but for right now these people (both the students and teachers I introduce) are going to the the ones I talk about most.  
**STORY TIMELINE FOR ANYONE WHO'S CONFUSED:**  
For Soul Eater - Soul is a death scythe, Spartoi has been formed, the Kishin is at large and Kid's already been rescued from the book of Eibon (you probabaly already figured that out.  
For Harry Potter - Around the 5th year. Umbridge is a teacher, but no one's been fired yet and she hasn't really started putting up those stupid decrees (and obviously Dumbledore hasn't left yet. Its before Christmas so its winter, but its not really anywhere close to the Christmas holidays yet (I forget exactly when Dumbledore left, but I don't think it was before that). Also, a lot of the stuff that goes down with Voldemort in the fifth book hasn't happened yet, but Dumbledore's Army has been formed. (I might change that, but we'll see).

PHEW. On with the story - I'll probably be posting a lot today to make up for the delay so you can look forward to that :)

**DISCLAIMER**: Don't own it. **Somebody please tell me**, do I really have to put this up every time?!

* * *

First Night: Part One

**Kid**

Kid's gaze swept across the row of teachers; the tall teacher who'd welcomed them, Professor McGonagall; the dark-haired teacher who'd yelled at Soul, Professor Snape; a large, heavy set teacher with a bushy beard, Hagrid; a moony-eyed teacher with large glasses, Professor Trelawney; and, at the end of the row, a teacher who appeared to have been dipped in a vat of pink dye, Professor Umbridge. He watched each of them quietly, studying their faces and committing them to memory.

They lingered on the headmaster as he stood, raising his soon to silence the room. The chatter fell to less than a whisper. He stood up, drawing his elegant blue robes around him and tucking his white beard behind the table's surface. The teachers turned to him as one body and the students listened to his words with quiet intent.

"As I'm sure you're all aware," he said into the silence, waving his hand to silence the few remaining whispers. "Hogwarts has welcomed a few new students today.

"Meister Maka Albarn, and her partner Soul Eater." His words were interrupted by a rowdy round of applause from the Gryffindor table. "Death the Kid, and his partners Elizabeth and Patricia Thompson." (Malfoy scoffed and threw Kid a heavy-lidded glare. "Death the Kid? _Please_.") As well as meister Black Star, and his partner Tsubaki.

"They will all be a part of the Hogwarts student body for the next few days."

He paused and the air grew still as the students waited for his next words.

"Now, I'm sure you are all wondering why they are here. They are not witches or wizards as you are, but they are magical in their own right." His eyes twinkled mysteriously. "They are students at the DWMA, located in Death City. They were sent here by Lord Death to aid and preserve the balance of peace and madness in our school.

"To ensure that their efforts are not in vain, Maka and Soul will be completing a mission in Hogsmeade with the help of Black Star and Tsubaki, and Death the Kid will be observing the students of Hogwarts to see how they interact."

Kid's head hit the table heavily. "Thanks, old man," he whined as Soul snorted quietly. Kid's gaze slid to the headmaster and found his twinkling gaze had alighted on him. He winked quietly and turned away, facing the whole of Hogwarts again.

"They are here to help us, as well as keep us safe." Dumbledore's hands quivered in the air as he brought them to rest over a winged podium. "There have been some . . . _incidents_ around Hogsmeade. Unsettling in nature, these incidents were brought to our attention by a Hogwarts student and we are taking every precaution to help keep you all safe during the school year."

"How's are _they_ going to keep us safe?" Malfory sneered, stage-whispering to his fat-friend. "The pig-tailed girl's a bean stalk and that white-haired freak isn't exactly threatening."

Soul bared his teeth at the blonde boy.

"If you see anything strange while dealing with the people in Hogsmeade – or even in your fellow students – please report it either to me or Death the Kid," Dumbledore continued.

Soul's ruby gaze slid to Kid across the table. "What's he talking about?"

Kid shrugged roughly, turning away. "No idea."

Soul rubbed his hand over the back of his head. "Hmmm," he said, but let it drop.

"As much as I am impressed by your _skills_," Dumbledore addressed the meisters and weapons with singular clarity. "I hope you never have to use them."

The meisters nodded. "Right."

The weapons rolled their eyes. "Okay."

"That being said, you may use your abilities as much as you need to, but please take into consideration the safety of my students before you try anything too dangerous." Dumbledore's gaze zeroed in on the Gryffindor table. "Your school has quite the reputation, after all." ("He's talking to Black Star!" Soul grinned. He and Kid shared a quiet laugh)

"Now, then." Dumbledore clapped his hand and the large trays of food vanished, signaling the end of the banquet. "Off to your rooms. Goodbye, DWMA students! I wish you well!" he waved as the Great Hall exploded into noise.

Soul stood and cracked his back, craning his neck to see over the flood of people milling about the room. "I can't find Maka anywhere."

"She'll be fine." Kid clapped a hand on Soul's shoulder. "Let's go get some rest. We've got a weird class schedule lined up for tomorrow." He handed Soul a thin slip of paper.

His ruby eyes slid down the paper and his mouth curled up in disgust. "What is this?" he groaned, poking at the paper with his finger. "Potions class? Flying lessons?"

"Defense against the Dark Arts sounds interesting," Kid shrugged, slipping his hands into his pockets.

"I bet it's with that dark-haired guy." Soul shuddered. "Jeez, what a creep."

"And I thought we took interesting classes at the DWMA." Kid and Soul shared a look, laughing under their breath. "Come on. We better follow these kids." Kid gestured to the line of students in green and silver filing out the Great Hall's double doors. "This place is too big for us to get lost."

"Yeah." Soul rubbed the back of his neck and slid his hands in his pockets. His gaze slipped up over the heads of the students again and he scanned the crowd for his meister. "Oh, well." He looked back down, putting one foot in front of another on the tiled floor. "I'm sure she'll be fine."

**Maka**

"This place is AMAZING!" Maka spun in a tight circle, clasping her arms to her chest.

The Gryffindor common room burned with warm light. It opened from a small closet hallway to a wide, red room adorned with rich tapestries and amazing – _moving_ – paintings. They blinked and watched Maka with wide, curious eyes as she spun about the room. Desks and chairs littered the small warm space and in the corner a game of wizarding chess was set up. Maka grinned and watched the pieces take swings at each other, revving up for the real game.

"You think so?" The dark-haired boy sat down at a chair near the fire and sighed, sinking into the chair. "It's great for a wintery night like this. So warm and toasty."

"Are they all like this?" Maka wondered, poking her head up the stone staircase leading to the boy's and girl's dormitories.

The brown-haired girl smiled warmly. "Ravenclaw's common room is in the tower and Hufflepuff has a common room in the basement. Slytherin's common room is in the dungeon –"

"Which might explain why Slytherin's are all dark and gloomy." The ginger dropped into the seat next to the dark haired boy and they rolled their eyes together.

Maka huffed. "Soul is in that house," she reminded them and they shared repentant looks.

"I'm Harry Potter," the dark-haired boy stuck out his hand and Maka took it, smiling gently.

"He's kind of famous 'round here," the ginger grinned and Harry elbowed him roughly in the side. "I'm Ron by the way."

"Ron Weasley," the girl finished. "And I'm Hermione Granger." She and Maka shook hands.

"Nice to meet you," Maka smiled brightly.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU FOOLS FORGOT ABOUT ME!" Black Star crowed from the doorway. He propped his hands on his hips and grinned, flashing rows of pearly white teeth. Behind him, students grumbled and pushed, glaring at the blue-haired meister.

"Ugh." Maka rolled her eyes. "Why'd _he_ have to get sorted into my house?"

"It's 'cause I'm awesome! Of course I'd be suited for the best house of Hogwarts!" Black Star pumped his muscles, shouting over Patty's wild giggling. "My only question is how _you_ ended up in here, Maka?"

Her jaw clenched. "Gee, thanks, Black Star."

He flashed her a dazzling smile. "No problem, Maka."

"Move it, will ya!" Two ginger heads popped through the doorway on either side of Black Star's arms. They pushed and Black Star popped out of the doorway, rolling into the middle of the common room at Maka's feet.

He sat up quickly with a ruby vein throbbing near his forehead. "HEY, WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" he shouted.

The twins brushed off their coats and took a seat near Ron, rolling their eyes at the furious Black Star. "For being a twat, Twinkle Star," they said together.

"IT'S BLACK STAR!"

"Whatever."

"These two idiots are my brothers," Ron pointed to the chuckling red-heads. "Fred and George."

"Hiya!" They waved to Maka.

"You sure have a lively family." Maka smiled.

Ron grinned. "You don't even know the half of it."

"So who are you guys?" Fred peered around his brother, blinking curiously at Maka and Black Star.

"Yeah!" his brother chimed in, pointing to Maka. "The Professor said you guys were hot stuff."

"We want to know why."

"And how."

Maka blinked. She looked to Ron with a wary smile. "Are they always like this?"

He nodded. "Pretty much."

"Hey, Ginny!" Hermione waved to another red-head, coming through the portrait door with a tall boy. "Hey, Neville! What's up?"

"My wand broke," Neville said glumly, holding up his crooked wand. "It won't work properly."

"That's because you're a loser, Neville," Fred grinned, tossing the boy a pouty look. "But it's okay. We still love you."

His brother laughed and Neville looked down with an absent smile. "Yeah. Right."

"Knock it off, idiots." Ginny reached forward and punched her brothers in the arms before turning to Maka with a shy smile. "You're the new girl, right? I'm Ginny Weasley."

"You have a large family," Maka smiled, but her smile was fading at the edges.

"Are you alright?" Hermione leaned in over Ginny's shoulder. "You look a little pale."

"She's probably just wondering how she's going to make it through the night without her precious Soul nearby!" Black Star erupted into raucous laughter and Patty smothered her giggles with her hand.

"MAKA CHOP!"

Black Star fell into a pool of blood near the fire and Maka dangled her heavy book over his head. "Say that again," she growled threateningly.

"You two live together?" Harry's eyes were wide behind his glasses.

"It's not like that!" Maka's cheeks burst into flames as Patty fell off her chair laughing.

"Excuse me!" The portrait that had let them – a fat lady with an operatic voice and long flowing hair – began to scream at the Gryffindor students. "There's someone at the door!"

"Who is it?" Hermione asked, nearing the door.

"Some odd looking boy. He keeps saying he's in Slytherin but he needs to talk a girl named Maka."

Black Star slid Maka a conspiratorial look. "Uh huh. It's not like that at all."

Patty giggled quietly.

Maka turned away to hide the blush racing across her cheeks. "I'll be right back."

She raced to the door and it swung inward revealing a red-faced Soul. He blinked at the singing fat lady and his gaze lighted on Maka. A relieved grin slid across his face.

"How'd you get up here?" she asked him, stepping out of the doorway and onto the landing.

He shrugged. "Some girl told me how to get up here. She was pretty nice about it, actually." He grinned held his hands out. In his arms, lay her forgotten suitcase.

"Oh!" she cried, taking it from him. "Thanks, Soul."

"Forget I was carrying the damn thing." He slipped his hands into his pockets and peered past her into the Gryffindor common room. "So . . . you gonna be alright in there?"

She nodded, following his gaze to the students grinning at her by the common room's raging fire. "Yeah, I think so. I've met some pretty nice people so far . . ." she trailed off and looked down.

Soul frowned. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Are _you_ going to be alright, Soul?" She jerked her head up and her chin quivered slightly. Her gaze flashed down to his chest and away.

Soul flashed her a pointy grin. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

"Okay." She nodded slowly.

He clapped a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. "Really, Maka. I'll see you tomorrow."

She smiled. "Right."

Inside the common room, Black Star was grinning broadly. He linked his arms behind his head and cracked one eye open to stare at Soul and Maka talking in the doorway. Patty giggled beside him, leaning in to watch them with bright, eager eyes.

"Hey, Black Star?"

He turned and blinked at the curious faces of the Gryffindor students.

Harry pushed his glasses up his nose and fingered a dark cowlick growing out of his thick mop of hair. "Are they a couple?" His gaze flashed to Maka and Soul.

Black Star grinned and his eyes slipped shut. "Nope."

The room released a collective sigh of disappointment.

"But don't worry." He opened his eyes as Soul wrapped his arms around Maka. He gave her a light hug before pushing her back inside the common room with a grin. "They will be."


	5. First Night (the Sequel)

Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it. The ending is kind of crappy, but I had to finish it there so in the next chapter we can go right into Potions class with Snape :) BTW, this chapter is a lot of dialogue about what you already know, but it had to be explained to the Hogwarts students so . . . I tried to make it as interesting as possible so I hope you enjoy!

**DISCLAIMER**: Don't own. Honestly though, I think you guys know by now!

* * *

First Night: Part Two

**Maka**

Maka settled down in front of the common room fire, clutching her suitcase to her chest. She sighed and shifted, sinking deeper into the chair, wary of the students' watchful eyes upon her.

"So." Ron cleared his throat to attempt to break the awkward silence. "Maka?"

Maka dragged her eyes away from the flickering flames and blinked at the curious red-head. "Yeah?"

"Who are you guys?" He leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest.

She exchanged a look with Black Star. "I'm Maka Albarn."

"And I'm Black Star." The blue-haired meister leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "What more do you want to know?"

"Really, though." The Weasley twins passed their eyes across the two students, sparing Patty a brief glance over their shoulders. "Who are you?"

Maka tapped her fingers against the suitcase's rough surface. "I don't think we're supposed to talk about it."

"That professor guy seemed pretty strict." Black Star blew out a breath, linking his arms behind his head. "Hmph. What does he know?"

"Professor Dumbledore isn't really reliable." Harry's glasses flashed in the firelight. He turned away and his face darkened considerably.

Hermione bit her lip and her gaze slid to Ron behind Harry's back. "He's a good headmaster though." She looked away. "Normally, anyway."

"Eh?" Black Star leaned forward. "What's wrong with him now?"

"He's been off, lately." Ron shrugged, looking away from the curious assassin. "Acting weird, sneaking around." He looked at his friend with more than a little dose of worry in his eyes. "Maybe it has something to do with why you guys are here."

Maka nodded, tugging at the string tied around her suitcase. "Maybe."

"Yeah, about that." Black Star turned to Maka. "Did you see the way that professor was looking at Kid?"

Maka frowned. "No."

Black Star looked away. "It was weird. He and Kid shared _a look_, you know? Like the both knew something they weren't telling us."

The string in Maka's hand snapped sharply against her suitcase. "That's not a good sign."

Black Star shook his head and a muscle in his jaw jumped. "Whatever's going on, I'm going to get to the bottom of it."

Maka's eyebrows disappeared into her hairline. "You are?"

"Yeah." Black Star sat up abruptly. "I'M NOT GOING TO LET THAT LITTLE BRAT TAKE THE STAGE AWAY FROM ME!"

Maka rubbed her temples tiredly. "Ugh."

"HA HA HA HA! NOBODY STEALS THE SPOTLIGHT FROM BLACK STAR AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!" He stood on the nearest table and pumped his fists in the air. "I AM THE ONE WHO WILL SURPASS GOD!"

"Is he always like that?" Ginny jerked her thumb back towards the crazed meister.

Maka's head hung between her shoulder blades and she nodded slowly. "Uh huh."

Ron glared at the blue-haired assassin. "How do you deal with him?"

"You don't," she said between her teeth.

"You either love him or you hate him," Patty laughed.

"So if you can't talk about that . . . what can you talk about?" Fred rested his chin on his hands.

Maka bit her lip in the silence that ensued. "Well . . ."

"Come on, now." Fred grinned. "Cat got your tongue, Maka?"

"How about those odd friends of yours?" George linked his arms behind his head. "Soul and _Death the Kid_? What kind of name is that?"

"Sounds odd to me." Neville spoke for the first time, blinking nervously.

"Umm." Maka looked down at the floor. "That's a funny story actually . . ."

"He's Lord Death's son!" Patty chirped. "And my meister!"

"_Meister_?" the Gryffindor students chorused as Maka clapped her hands over Patty's mouth. "What's a meister?"

"I don't think we can talk about that . . ." Maka smiled sheepishly, struggling to shut Patty's big mouth.

"Well, who's Lord Death?" Harry asked. "Is he some kind of Grim Reaper?"

Maka looked around the room for Black Star. "I don't know if we can talk about that either . . ."

"What does the DWMA stand for?" Hermione and Ginny said together.

Patty shrugged Maka off and leaned forward, pushing the ashy blonde meister out of the way. "It stands for the Death Weapon Meister Academy! It was founded by the Grim Reaper, Lord Death himself, to protect and preserve peace and to make sure a Kishin is never again reborn into the world!" She clapped her hands happily. "Yay! GO US!"

"A Kishin?" The Hogwarts students scratched their heads in confusion.

"It's Japanese for Demon God," Hermione piped up, flipping through a book she'd pulled from a bag at her hip. The book snapped shut.

"A Demon God?" Ron said suspiciously.

"So you guys are trying to prevent a _Demon God_ from being reborn into the world?" Harry blinked.

"Sounds fishy to me," the twins said together.

Maka shot Patty an evil glare. "Not exactly . . ."

"The Kishin is madness itself." Black Star sat on the arm of Maka's chair and studiously inspected his nails. "We're trying to prevent the human race from falling into madness and being obliterated by it."

"NOT YOU TOO!" Maka cried, dropping her face in her hands.

"What? These kids have a right to know." Black Star looked around at the curious faces of the Hogwarts students. "It's their lives we're trying to protect, after all."

"What about you and Soul?" Harry frowned at Maka. "And you and Tsubaki?" He pointed to Black Star. "What are the _abilities_ you have that Professor Dumbledore mentioned?"

Maka stared worriedly at Black Star, but the young meister shrugged, turning away. "That information is confidential."

Their jaws dropped. "WHAT!?"

"Sorry." Black Star grinned at the wall, facing away from the Hogwarts students. "Not gonna tell you."

The door to the Gryffindor tower swung inward, revealing the tall, emerald form of Professor McGonagall. She strode into the room and flicked the door shut behind her, glaring at the DWMA students with a vicious passion.

"Excuse me!" she cried, striding into the center of their little informal circle. "But I need to ask Maka and Black Star a few questions."

"Aww, what about me?" Patty waved, grinning happily from her spot near the twins.

"Professor Dumbledore has told us nothing about who you are or what you are or what your partners can do." Her eyes narrowed. "I plan to find out one way or the other, but I don't like the thought of bumbling around in the dark for your true identities." The stern teacher propped her hands on her hips, glaring at the meisters from beneath the brim of her wide green hat. "So I demand that you tell me who you are."

"And who are you, old lady?" Black Star stood up and faced down the old teacher, grinning confidently. "You can't order me around. I'm almost a god, you know."

"As a Transfiguration teacher and the Head of the Gryffindor House I order you to tell me RIGHT NOW. Or I will force you to leave my house," she said sternly, passing a glare between the three DWMA students.

Maka swallowed and Black Star shrunk back a step, bumping roughly into Maka's chair.

"Well," Maka said slowly, looking around the circle of curious students before raising her eyes up to the professor's. "It's like this . . ."

**Soul**

"Can you really transform into a weapon?" a hazel-eyed girl named Ashley blinked widely at Soul, grinning at his arm.

"Yeah," the young weapon smiled. "Wanna see?"

"I certainly do." Malfoy slid off a stool in the Slytherin common room, crossing his arms over his chest. "This should be good," he elbowed his crude friends.

"Is it okay, _Professor_?" Soul slid Snape a look.

The scowling professor nodded slowly, cupping his chin with his hand. "Go ahead."

Soul straightened his right arm, waving to make room in the curious circle that had gathered around him.

"Give him some room, jeez," Kid muttered, forcing some kids to back up. "He'll slice you all to pieces if you stand this close."

Soul flashed a pointy grin at Malfoy as a scythe blade jumped out of his shoulder, forming in the blue air left behind by his right arm. The circle around him gasped as the blade solidified, flashing red and black in the dim light of the Slytherin dungeon. A few red and black triangles traced across the blade before it flat-lined into a curved line that hooked around the blade, ending at a wicked point.

"That's amazing!" Ashley grinned, reaching forward to tap the blade's shiny surface with her finger.

A few other students agreed, nodding appreciatively and grazing the blade with their fingers.

"Back up!" Kid shouted, pushing the kids back as Soul edged away uncomfortably. "Don't touch his blade! It's incredibly sharp."

"Is it just your arm?" Professor Snape asked, blinking at the curved blade.

Soul shook his head. "It's my entire body."

"Prove it," Malfoy sneered.

Soul rolled his ruby eyes. "No way, Malfoy." He held up his scythe blade and pointed it at the sneering blonde. "You're not cool enough to see my full Death Scythe form."

"What's a Death Scythe?" Snape was rubbing his jaw absently.

"It's the most powerful weapon form there is," Kid answered, patting Soul on the back. "A weapon becomes a Death Scythe when their meisters feed them 99 kishin eggs – the souls of evil humans – and one witche's soul."

The Slytherin students recoiled. "What?"

"Don't worry." Soul bared his pointy teeth at the small gathering of students. "You guys aren't on my hit-list."

"Evil witches only," Kid reassured the students. "Like the Witch Medusa."

"And He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named!" Someone in the back shouted and the crowd muttered in agreement. Soul and Kid nodded with confused looks on their faces.

"Sure," Soul said slowly. "Okay."

"And your meister is the only one can hold you, correct?" Snape asked Soul.

He nodded. "We've matched soul wavelengths. I'm the only one who can resonate with Maka and make her soul's wavelength stronger."

"Their resonation rate is the strongest thing I've ever seen." Kid smiled proudly at Soul. "It's incredible."

"Thanks, Kid." Soul grinned.

"And what are your weapons, reaper?" Snape pointed to Kid.

"Twin pistols," Kid said calmly, levelling his yellow eyes at Snape.

"He's all about symmetry," Soul muttered out of the side of his mouth.

"Impressive," Snape said after a lengthy pause. "I'm got my eye on you, DWMA students." He strolled away, flicking his cape out so it billowed behind him in long dark waves.

Soul rolled his eyes at Snape's retreating back, resisting the uncool urge to stick out his tongue at the old man.

"Whatever." Soul let his scythe blade melt back into its human form. "I hope tomorrow is cooler than today was."

"I doubt it," Kid frowned as the circle of students around them slowly disappeared. "Look what class is first on the schedule." He held the paper out to Soul.

"Potions class," Soul read, blinking in the dim light. "With . . . _Professor Snape_!"

"Ugh," Kid groaned as he and Soul retreated to the boy's dormitories.

Soul collapsed onto the unfamiliar bed and sighed into the stiff pillow. "So uncool," he muttered, shutting his eyes with a soft snick.


	6. A Dash of Wormwood (Classes)

New chapter! YAY! This one's just dialogue cause I really didn't want to spend too much time on the non-important stuff. The next chapter is the rest of their first day at Hogwats (DADA and Flying Lessons) which is where the REAL story begins. Like the Black Blood plotline and everything. Okay, that should be up tomorrow so, yeah.

**DISCLAIMER**: I'm not putting up a disclaimer anymore. You know it anyway. I don't own anything.

* * *

A Dash of Wormwood, Flick and Swish, and Easy A

Potions, Charms, and Transfiguration (First Day of Classes Part One)

**Potions**

"What the hell is this?"

"It's wormwood."

"Why does it look like that?"

"Because it's wormwood."

"What's this funny smelling goo?"

"That's bat blood."

"What's this?"

"Death-Cap."

"Why do you have that scar on your forehead?"

"Ummm . . ."

"Soul! Stop bothering Harry he's busy! Sorry, Harry. Soul can be a real jerk sometimes."

"Calm down, Maka. I'm just curious."

"Soul! Maka! No talking during the middle of a lesson!"

"Sorry, Professor."

"That man's so uncool."

"Potter!"

"Uh, yes, professor?"

"You and Maka will be partners from now on. Ron you're with Soul."

"Oh, man. Bye, Maka."

"Now look what've you done, Soul!"

"Bloody hell! You're teeth-!"

"They're pretty cool, aren't they?"

"You look like a bloody shark."

"Thanks, ginge. Now quit whining and put that wormwood in the cauldron."

"And bossy."

"I am not bossy."

"Bloody hell, how does Maka put up with you?"

"Why you little –!"

"Hey, Harry?"

"Yeah, Maka."

"Ummm, do you . . . Can I ask about the, umm . . . the uh . . ."

"My scar? Ha ha. I'll tell you the story back at the common room, okay?"

"Thanks."

**Charms**

"Flick and swish and flick and swish and – NO, BLACK STAR! NOT LIKE THAT!"

"EH! Watch where you're swinging that thing!"

"Oops. Sorry, man."

"Don't worry, Seamus. Black Star isn't a wizard. He can't do any magical damage."

"He can still bash my head in. Rotten little blue-headed –"

"You say something, Irish?"

"Who, me? No, I didn't say anything at all."

"YOU WANNA GO! I'LL TAKE YOU ANY DAY! COME ON! I'M THE ONE WHO WILL SURPASS GOD!"

_"We know."_

"Black Star, please!"

"What, Tsubaki? This guy's trying to fight me!"

"All three of you! Sit down and be quiet! Ms. Granger?"

"Yes, Professor Flitwick?"

"Please demonstrate to Black Star the proper wrist technique for flicking your wand."

"Certainly."

**Potions (Part Two)**

"THE SYMMETRY!"

"Oh, boy. Here we go again."

"I must . . . fix the . . . bottles!"

"Sit down, Kid! I will not have you disrupting my class to fix a few bottles."

"No, Professor, you don't understand when he gets like this there's no stopping him."

"Do you see the symmetry of this room?"

"Excuse me?"

"Professor Snape, you might want to –"

"You don't, do you?"

"Sit down or –!"

"THAT'S BECAUSE THERE IS NO SYMMETRY!"

"I don't –"

"Patty! Stop laughing and help me with this!"

"All the greens bottles should be on the right and all the red bottles should be on the left the yellow bottles go on the top next to the spotted bottles and the black ones go two inches to the left on the shelf with the brown bottles I need to put all the bottles with body parts inside on the right shelf and all the organic ingredients on the left shelf plant ingredient bottles go next to the third row of cauldrons this second row of cauldrons needs to perfectly aligned with the one on the other side or else the entire room falls into chaos excuse me but please get up I need to move this desk just a tad good okay this bottle is a plant ingredient so it goes on the top shelf with the rest of the green bottles these tubes need to be symmetrical with these I need a pair of scissors there we go perfectly aligned I think it's almost aligned now I just have to –"

"Are you finished now, Kid? You're testing my patience."

"Can we _please_ sit down, Kid? _Everyone's looking at us_!"

". . . this one . . ."

"What is it now?"

". . . it . . . has . . . "

"What?!"

"Ssssstttttttrrrrriiiiiiiiipppppppppeeeeeessssssss ."

"Oh my Lord Death, Kid."

"WHY DOES IT HAVE TO HAVE STRIPES THEY'RE ASYMMETRICAL TOO THIS BOTTLE WAS PUT HERE TO TEST ME IT MUST HAVE BEEN I CAN'T BE A REAPER WITH THIS BOTTLE HERE I DON'T EVEN NOW WHAT'S INSIDE I CAN'T LOOK PAST THE HORRID DISGUSTING STRIPES THIS BOTTLE DISGUSTS ME I DISGUST ME I'M NOTHING BUT FILTHY REAPER SCUM I'M TRASH I'M AN ABOMINATION I CAN'T TAKE OVER FOR MY FATHER LIKE THIS HE'LL DISOWN ME I CAN'T –!"

". . . Does he do this often?"

"Oh, only once about every two hours."

"He needs serious help."

"Tell me about it, Professor. I give up. I've consoled this kid one too many times. Patty!"

"Yeah, sis?"

"It's your turn."

"Okay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _DRoP thAt BoTTle aND SIt YoUR aSS dOwN, DaMn yOU_."

"_Sniff sniff_. I HATE YOU, PATTY. I REALLY REALLY HATE YOU!"

"Nice one."

"I like being scary, sis! It's fun! Hehehe!"

". . ."

". . ."

". . . Bloody hell."

"Yeah."

"Is he always like that?"

"Pretty much."

**Transfiguration**

". . . ."

". . . ."

". . . ."

". . . ."

". . . Professor, McGonagall?"

"Yes, child?"

"Do we really need to take this class?"

"Transfiguration is one of the classes Professor Dumbledore recommended you three learn."

"That's sweet of the old man and all, Professor, but, uh, I think we've got this."

"You are Soul Eater?"

"Uh huh."

"Maka's weapon partner."

"Yep."

"You turn into a scythe."

"Pretty cool, huh?"

"And you are Black Star?"

"I'm going to surpass God someday, you know."

_"We know."_

"Tsubaki?"

"Yes, Professor?"

"You are his weapon partner, correct? The magic Dark Arm?"

"Yes."

"And you two are the Thompson Sisters?"

"YEP! Hehehe!"

"We're Kid's twin pistols."

". . . ."

"Professor?"

"Yes, Maka?"

"I really don't think we need to take this class."

". . . Very well."

"_ALRIGHT_!"


	7. Flying Lessons

New chap! It's really long, so sorry bout that. Next should be up soon :)

* * *

Flying Lessons

**Soul and Maka**

"So, what. I'm supposed to believe you can fly, shark-tooth?" Ron leaned against the side of the school building watching Soul with narrowed eyes.

"Believe it. Don't believe it. I really don't care, ginge." Soul slung on his jacket, breathing in the chilly afternoon air. "But just for the record," – he looked back over his shoulder at the skeptical ginger – "I _can_ fly."

Ron eyes him doubtfully for a moment before an impressed grin curled his lips up. "Wicked."

"Here, Maka. You can use this broom if you want to." Across the field, the Gryffindor team was warming up, hopping onto their brooms and taking a couple practice laps around the long oval Quidditch field. Harry stood awkwardly nearby, still in his school uniform. "It's not the best broom, but it's something."

"Oh." Maka blushed and gingerly took the broom from Harry's outstretched hand. "Umm, thanks, Harry."

Soul snorted and strode forward with Ron a few paces behind him. "She doesn't need a broom." He took the broom from Maka's hand and thrust it back at Harry's chest. "She's got me."

"What about you, Kid?" Harry turned toward the young reaper with the broom in his hand. "Do you need a broom?"

Kid shook his head with his back to the small group. A skull scarf was wrapped tightly around his neck and he played with it absently as his heavy-lidded eyes narrowed on something at the other side of the field. Three golden rings sat high above the grassy field of the Quidditch pitch and long, spindly poles.

"They're . . . not . . . symmetrical," he after a moment in a pained voice.

Soul rolled his eyes ruby eyes. "You need therapy."

"See for yourself! One's higher than the other!" he pointed with a quivering finger. He jerked around, swinging his head from side to side. "Where are Liz and Patty? There's something I need to fix . . ."

"HA HA HA!"

Black Star bounced out of the Gryffindor locker room with Tsubaki on his tail. She had her hand held over her eyes and as she shut the door behind herself, she let it drop, breathing in deeply through her mouth. An embarrassed cringe hardened the soft lines of her face as she followed her meister with her head down.

"Why couldn't we have used the main entrance?" she muttered as they approached. "Why did we have to walk through the _boy's_ locker room?"

"HA HA HA HA! I WAS THE BEST GUY IN THERE, RIGHT, TSUBAKI?" Black Star flexed his muscles for the small crowd gathered on the high-rise stands.

Tsubaki sighed heavily. "Right."

"Okay, kids! Let's get moving!" A strong woman with spiky hair stepped out into the middle of the field. She addressed the practicing Gryffindor team first, then turned to address the crowd watching in the stands. "As you know, we have three special guests from the DWMA with us for the next few days. We were _told_ that air travel is not a problem for them, so while the Gryffindor team is practicing, I thought we'd test out their flying abilities to see if the DWMA reps were telling the truth." Her voice was sharp with authority.

"Geez." Black Star said under his breath. "That was a little harsh."

Soul stepped beside Maka, eyeing the people in the stands. "I see Liz, Patty, and that crazy Professor –"

"Her name's Professor Trelawney," Maka corrected stiffly.

"You just like her because she read your tea leaves and predicted '_good fortune for you and yours_'!" he adopted a high falsetto and Maka rolled her eyes.

"She's a bit of a nut, mate." Ron nudged Soul. "Watch out for her."

"We don't even have any classes with her." Soul rested his chin on Maka's shoulder. "She just came up to us."

Harry's eyes rolled behind his glasses. "Yeah, she does that."

Maka pushed Soul's chin off her shoulder. "Hey, I think that's Hermione's up there." Maka pointed at a girl waving with a red and gold scarf tied around her neck.

"And Neville and Luna." The students waved. Luna wore her heavy lion headdress and Maka giggled softly.

"When did Malfoy show up?" Ron pointed to the slimy blonde sitting with a few other green and silver clad students.

"Must be his free period." Harry cringed. "Well, I better go join them." Harry clapped Maka on the shoulder. "Good luck. I'll see you later."

"Wait, Harry!" Maka raced after him. "Ron told me you were on the Quidditch team."

"Yeah," Harry sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I was. Fred, George, and I got banned by Professor Umbridge."

Maka frowned as Soul moved to stand beside her. "Professor Umbridge?"

"Nasty lady in pink. She's up there with the rest of them." Harry pointed. "See her? She's between Snape and Dumbledore."

Maka squinted. "Oh, yeah."

"Anyway, she's horrid. Hates my guts."

"Why?"

Soul poked Maka in the ribs. "Now who's bothering Harry?" he smirked.

Harry smiled and waved, turning in the direction of the stands. "I'll tell you later. Good luck, Maka!"

"Yeah," she muttered, waving once before dropping her hand. "Oi." She hung her head.

Soul frowned at her. "Nervous?"

She lifted her head up and looked around the wide ring.

Wind whistled over the pitch and Maka's pigtails whipped about her face. The wind carried with it the smell of decay and Maka turned towards the Forbidden Forest – the source of the retched smell – with a frown on her petite face. The wind raced past her and tore at Tsubaki's skirt and Kid's bangs. It zoomed through the Quidditch pitch, ruffling the grass and snapping at the player's red and gold robes. Moving past the small arena, it danced over a lake's glistening surface, playing with the white-capped waves and the small, sandy shoreline before diving back into the Forbidden Forest to renew the cycle.

"I feel something," she said softly. Even Soul, standing right next to her, barely heard her whispered words.

"What?" he replied, stepping close so his chest brushed lightly against her back. "What is it, Maka?"

The whistling wind fell silent and the ominous feeling Maka had been trying to grasp onto died with its whispers.

"Damn," she cursed, turning away. "I lost it."

"I'm sure, it's nothing." But neither Soul nor Maka was reassured.

"Yo! Soul!" Black Star was waving to them from the Qudditch pitch. "Come on! The party's already started."

Soul and Maka raced to the center of the field, following Black Star and Tsubaki. Death the Kid trailed after them, glaring at the asymmetrical Quidditch rings with contempt.

"Disgusting, disgusting, disgusting," he muttered under his breathe.

"Alright, you three." Madame Hooch planted one boot firmly on the lid of a rattling metal suitcase. "Inside this container are the balls used for playing Quidditch. None of you will be playing in any games, so there's no need for you to know all of these, but I just want to keep you aware – one, the Bludger, will try to hit you. You have been warned."

She lifted her foot off the suitcase and the balls zoomed out, flying in opposite directions. A small gold orb hovered daintily before unfolding a tiny pair of wings that fluttered like fairy gossamer in the sunlight. The Snitch, as Maka learned it was called, zoomed into the air and skirted around the field, blinking out of sight before Maka could fully grasp its little golden form.

"There you go!" Madame Hooch reached down and tossed a heavy ball to the team's captain, Angelina Johnson. "Go practice!"

The girl turned and tossed the ball to Ron who flew towards the widest of the three rings. Maka turned to watch the gameplay continue, but Madame Hooch's booming voice drew Maka's attention back towards her.

"Okay, you three. Let's see what you can do." She stepped back and spread her arms towards the DWMA students. "Let's start with some sort of lift off."

Kid rolled his eyes, finally managing to draw his attention off the three Quidditch rings. "I'm going to go talk to Liz and Patty."

Madame Hooch's eyes grew wide in her narrow face. "Wait, what? They're up in the stands, Kid! I don't think you can –"

The reaper spread his arms and flicked his palms up towards the sky. A cluster of dark skulls danced out from under his sleeves and covered the pale skin on his palms. Madame Hooch stepped back with a gasp as the skulls grew into the oblong shape of Kid's skateboard. He flipped the board under his feet and stepped on, taking off with a rough blast of air.

"See ya!" He waved to Black Star and Maka, zooming up in the direction of the crowd watching from the stands.

"My turn!" Black Star flexed his muscles. "Tsubaki! Enchanted sword mode!"

"Right!" Tsubaki's skin flashed golden as she transformed into the slim, dark sword she'd taken from her brother.

"Shadow puppet!" Black Star crowed, lifting Tsubaki over his head. "Let's go!"

A dark ball formed beneath him, reaching up with spindly tentacles to latch onto Black Star's waist. The spindles grew outward, reaching with long arms for the dark patches of shadow beneath the stands of the Qudditch pitch. Black Star bent his knees and leapt into the air as the shadows around his waist consolidated into a thick dark line. Tsubaki's shadows grew taller and taller, stretching Black Star up into the sky.

"YAHOO!" the boy yelled, leaning forward. The shadows from Tsubaki's enchanted sword moved to accommodate him, planting themselves firmly into the soil to propel him through the air.

"Incredible." Madame Hooch shielded her eyes against the sun. Her wide-eyed gaze followed Black Star as he bounced around the mostly empty stands, moving to hover near Kid's skateboard above Liz and Patty.

"Our turn! Let's go, Maka!" Soul reached for Maka's hand. "Maka?"

The wind had picked up around her, whipping her pigtails against her cheeks and pulling on the back of her Spartoi skirt. The wind was so powerful it dragged her forward in the direction of the forest.

"Soul," she breathed, staring off in the direction of the forest. "There's something –"

"Maka?" Neither Madame Hooch nor Soul were affected by the strange wind. "Is something wrong?"

"Come on, Maka!" Soul grabbed his meister's hand with a worried frown. "Let's go join the others."

The wind died again as Soul's palm met hers. She looked down at their intertwined fingers with a frown, listening to the last remaining whispers die with the wind. Slowly, she drew her gaze away from the shivering forest to her troubled weapon partner. "Right."

Soul's skin flashed blue as he shifted into his scythe form. He spun in the air, landing perfectly in Maka's outstretched arms. Red and black triangles traced down the top part of his blade and the golden plates around his eye glimmered in the sunlight.

"Ready, Maka?" Soul asked as she perched on the top half of his scythe.

"Let's go, Soul." Maka shut her eyes and her grip tightened on Soul's smooth handle. She focused all her energy on the image of wings – not the cutesy angel wings she'd pictured before, but the powerful jagged wings she and Soul had agreed on after their last time flying.

From the stands, the gathered crowd watched in awe as Soul's long blade shrunk to a much more practical size. A giant pair of wings ballooned into shape from the top of the blade, near Soul's narrowed eye.

Dumbledore and Snape exchanged wide-eyed glances. Both could see Maka's Grigori soul and they watched in wonder as the tiny pigtails they'd seen before grew in sync with the wings on Soul Eater's blade. Dumbledore smiled brightly and clapped his hands together as both pairs of wings finished their transformation. In one long stroke, the wings flapped downwards and Maka's feet left the ground. She and Soul sailed into the air in one movement, turning towards the stands and flapping their wings.

"Quite impressive," Dumbledore whispered to Snape. "Just look at the wings on her soul!"

"Haven't seen a Grigori soul like that one since –"

"Wait!" Hermione turned around. "Maka has wings on her _soul_!"

Dumbledore smiled at the bright witch and pointed to the pair as they lifted higher into the air. "She's a very talented young meister, Hermione." He winked at the Gryffindor girl. "I think you two would be the best of friends, wouldn't you say?"

"Psh." Malfoy crossed his arms over his chest and looked away. "It's not that impressive."

"Shut up, Malfoy." Ashley, the hazel-eyed Slytherin, nudged the slimy blonde in the side. "That's awesome and you know it."

"Bloody hell, shark-tooth!" Ron swerved his broom to fly side-by-side with Maka and Soul as they flew lazily around the Quidditch pitch. "You really can turn into a scythe!"

Soul's diminutive blade flashed and his face grinned at Ron from within the shiny surface. "Told you."

"Wow, Black Star." Seamus sat on the edge of the stands, watching Tsubaki's shadows adjust to keep Black Star balanced in the air. "That's pretty impressive."

"Thanks, Irish." Black Star beamed at the boy. "I am pretty amazing, aren't I?"

"Liz. Patty. I need you to transform." Kid's gaze was on the other end of the Quidditch pitch, near where Ron stood guard in front of the three yellow rings.

"Umm, why?" Liz propped her hands on her hips. She drew her coat tighter around her. "You better not be thinking what I think you're thinking."

Kid's eye twitched. "It's . . . asymmetrical," he said in a strained voice.

"Oh, dear," Liz said over Patty's loud giggles.

"Wow! That's amazing, Maka!" Ginny stopped her broom beside Soul. "Really. That's pretty brilliant."

"Thanks." Maka blushed shyly. "It's no different than a broomstick."

"But you have wings!" Ginny grinned. "They look pretty fast. See if you can catch the Snitch!" She pointed to the shivering golden ball hovering near the edge of the pitch.

"Oh, I don't know . . ." Maka's voice trailed off, but both the Weasley girl and Soul were itching for Maka to give it a try.

"Come on, Maka! We can do it!" Soul shouted from within his blade.

"I'll give you five chocolate frogs if you do." Ginny raised a ginger eyebrow.

Maka frowned. "What's a chocolate frog?"

Soul's blade glowed and he flashed a pointy grin at the red-haired girl. A little dribble of drool trickled out of the corner of his mouth. "We'll do it."

"GO, MAKA!" Ginny screamed at Maka who yelped into motion.

She and Soul dove towards the ground at break-neck speed, heading towards the golden ball. It seemed to know they were coming because it turned its gossamer fairy wings and darted away over the grassy ground. Maka raced after it, leaning forward over Soul's handle to streamline her body. The tiny ball arched upwards suddenly and Maka yanked on Soul's handle, edging behind it in a fierce upwards climb.

"To the left, Maka! It went that way!" Soul screamed at her and she jerked in the direction he'd shouted.

The Snitch dove through the empty stands and Maka plunged through the seats, turning sideways to avoid the rickety wooden beaches. Maka kept her gaze fastened on the tiny golden ball, blinking hair out of her eyes as a fierce wind whipped around her.

"Oh, man!" Lee Jordan, official Quidditch commentator, hung his arms off the stands. He watched Maka and Soul race after the Snitch with open-mouthed admiration. "I wish she'd play! She'd be great to talk about."

"You saying our sister isn't good enough?" Fred and George locked their arms around their friend.

"Nah. You're sister amazing. She gets the Snitch real quick, but this girl," – he laughed –"she's got _style_!"

Maka stretched out her hand to grab the Snitch. She and the tiny golden ball had almost flown off the pitch, but the Snitch had darted back into the Quidditch circle, hovering close to where Ron guarded the golden rings. Stretched out in front of her, was the Forbidden Forest, shaking in the fierce wind. But to Maka, the shivering trees were nothing but a thick green blur. Her fingers were inches from the golden ball, then they were around it, then they had almost closed when a strong breeze buffeted the air around her. She squealed as the wing knocked them off course, in the direction of the Forbidden Forest.

"Oh, man!" Lee groaned. "She was so close!"

Ginny flew up close to Maka and stretched out her hand for the Snitch, catching it in one easy movement. "Better luck next time, Maka." She grinned, pinning the ball's tiny wings between her fingers. She edged beside Maka, blinking at the blank look on the young meister's face. "Maka?"

Maka gaze was fastened on the Forbidden Forest. The breeze – and the stench of death it carried – swirled around her in a sickening tornado of madness. Something dark unfolded from the center of the forest, a dark dripping plague that turned the green leaves black with decay. It unfurled in thick waves, rolling over the treetops and spilling over the ground in long, sticky stretches. Maka's hands fell away from Soul's handle as the black tar spread like molasses over the Hogwarts grounds.

"Maka!" Soul called, trying to draw his meister's attention away from the forest's center. "MAKA!"

"Hey, what's going on?" Ron abandoned his goal post to fly to his sister's side. "What's wrong, shark-tooth?"

"Go get a Professor!" Ginny ordered her brother, pointing at the crowd milling on the empty stands. "Hurry! I'll try to get her onto the ground."

"Is something wrong?" Ron's brow furrowed.

"GO!" Ginny shouted.

The blackness touched the first bricks of the Hogwarts castle. Sensing a barrier, it crashed in dark waves against the stone, washing relentlessly against the school like the waves breaking on the lake's shore. Maka gasped, watching in horror, as the dark substance stretched up, reaching for a handhold among the stones of the castle. A dark tentacle stuck to the castle wall, pulling itself up and over the side of the castle, using the stones for balance. Another dark wave crashed against the stone, splashing upwards to grab ahold of the stony castle wall. It washed upwards, crawling up the wall like a disgusting insect.

"What's happening?" Maka gasped. Her eyes were full of terror and her heart was full of madness. "It's, it's . . ."

"Maka?" Black Star and Kid hovered around her as Ron flew back towards them.

"Why didn't you get a Professor?" Ginny huffed – all her attempts to coax Maka out of her panicked state had resulted in nothing but wasted breath.

"I got the next best thing." He pointed to the DWMA students.

"Soul!" Kid hovered near the scythe on his skateboard. "Try playing your piano!"

"She can't hear me." Soul's voice was strained as his face flashed on the blade's surface. His narrowed ruby eyes were wide with fear for his panicked meister. "I've been playing for the past five minutes, but her soul's wavelength is jammed, or something. I can't sense it."

"Neither can I." Kid rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. "That's troubling."

"Black blood," Maka muttered and Soul's breathing stopped. She watched the blood flow through the castle courtyard, over the grounds, and into the lake. Soon the entire school was covered in a thick layer of inky blood. The blood lapped gently at the school's stone, corroding it in thick, destructive waves. "It's black blood."

"LOOK OUT!" Angelina Johnson screamed. The group gathered around Maka turned, braced for the worst. A small, round ball – a deadly Bludger – zoomed towards them on a direct path for Maka.

Unfortunately, Angelina's warning was a few seconds too late. There wasn't enough time to draw in a surprised gasp, let alone get her out of the way. The Bludger slammed into the back of Maka's head and she tilted forward, falling over the end of Soul's blade. The black blood coating her vision dried into a crusty paste as her green eyes slipped shut. She dropped into unconsciousness a second before the wind died and the trees in the forest stopped shivering.

"MAKA!" Soul shouted, reaching out of his blade to grasp her ankle.

His fingers skimmed the skin there before she sailed out of his grip, falling toward the ground head-first.


	8. A Chocolate Frog

Tada! Hope you like it

* * *

A Chocolate Frog

**Maka**

"I can give you power." His voice was a whisper. Blackened words against an even blacker backdrop. "More than you'll ever need, more than you could ever think to desire."

_No._ She opened the mouth to say it to him, to scream it at him, but the words got stuck in her throat. She pressed her hands to her throat to try and force the words out, but they would not budge past her lips.

A demonic grin curled his mouth up. "You need the power. You can't refuse it."

_I don't need it_. She struggled pointlessly against his intoxicating words. _I'll never give in to you_. The words died in her throat and she found her mouth curving up into a delicious smile.

"Yes?" He inched closer. His boots made dark imprints against the circle of light around her. "Is that a yes, Maka?" His eyes flashed in the light, ruby red in the darkness beyond her protective circle.

She linked her gloved arms behind her, fiddling with the lacy edge of her black-blood dress. _No!_ She tried out her voice again, opening her mouth in a frustrated scream. "Maybe."

She gasped soundlessly and pressed her hands over her mouth. _No._

"Maybe is only one step away from a yes."

Music flared behind her. Jazz filled her ears like buzzing static, loud and obnoxious. She clapped her hands over her ears and knelt on the checkered floor. _Make it stop!_

"You don't like the jazz?" The music ended and slowly Maka stood, breathing heavily into the black silence. "Well, let's try something else."

Her circle of light expanded until the entire room was flushed with a warm, heady glow. Dark tables and chairs littered the curtained room, all red and black as far as Maka could see. A piano sat empty in one corner with delicate spider webs traced across its shiny surface. Maka's eyes widened and she stepped toward the piano, gliding forward on high heeled shoes.

"Do you like it?" His voice was all around her, plucking at the spider's strings and making them resonate with sound. "Arachne sure left her mark on this place."

Maka rested her hand on one of the strings, plucking softly at its vibrating chord. "Pretty," she breathed, listening to the G that sung out through the air.

"Maka."

The piano was right in front of her. She bent to meet it, taking her hand from the spider strings and resting them gently on the keys. Her fingers fluttered uselessly over the beautiful white keys.

"I can't." Her voice seemed to be obeying her now and she struggled to peel herself away from the piano. "I need to leave. I need to find Soul."

"I'm here, Maka." His voice was right over her shoulder. "I've been here this whole time."

His fingers rested over hers on the keys. His pinkies curled under her wrists so her hands would obey his movements. He rested his chin on her shoulder and breathed softly into her ear.

"Follow my lead."

He moved their joined hands over the keys, pressing down on her fingers to press down on the piano. Music grew beneath their joined hands as a melody lifted off the piano chords and danced along the spider's web. Soul hummed along under his breathe and Maka tilted her face back to him, tracing her eyes across his pin-striped suit.

"Black blood," she whispered as they played. "I saw the black blood."

"It's okay, Maka." Soul continued to play, closing his eyes and focusing on the rhythmic movement of his hands gliding over the keys. "The black blood will make you stronger."

Maka's eyes widened and she jerked her hands out from under Soul's. "WHAT!?"

"The black blood gives you power." Soul stepped away from her, sliding his hands into his pockets. "It gave me power. More than I could ever imagine."

"That's crazy, Soul! What are you talking about?"

"I found a rule to break." He stepped closer so his toes were flush with hers. "And it made me stronger." His narrowed eyes opened wide and a pointy grin danced around his lips. "And now it's made you stronger. See?"

He reached down and plucked her wrist, gripping it between his fingers. She struggled to tear it from his grasp, but he was too strong. He drew a small, sharp knife across the inside of her wrist, grinning widely at her.

"Soul! Ow, what the –!" Maka's curse ended in a gasp as a small trickle of black blood drew a line down her skin, disappearing beneath her mesh glove.

"No." she gasped, jerking her arm away from Soul. More black blood spattered the floor in small dots as the cut on her wrist grew larger, swallowing her whole arm. "No!"

"I can make you stronger." Soul's face flickered and the tiny imp she'd seen in his soul flashed in its place. "Find a rule to break. It will make you stronger."

"No!" Waves of black blood began to flood the room, washing around her ankles and up the inside of her calves. "No, I won't!"

"Is that a yes, Maka?" Soul stepped towards her with the demon's face. He had to wade through the ocean of blood to reach her. It inched up past the line on his chest, up to his collarbone before he could grab her. "I think I heard a yes."

"NOOOOO!" she screamed as the black blood closed over her head.

**Soul**

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Maka screamed, her pale face twisting in pain.

"Maka!" Soul reached for her flailing arm, catching her hand in his and holding it tightly. "Maka! Are you alright?"

Her green eyes opened briefly and her gaze latched onto his anxious face. They widened once before shutting tightly. Her scream pitched even higher.

"GET AWAY!" Her voice edged into shrill hysteria and she clawed at his hand until he released her. "GET AWAY, YOU DEMON!"

Soul's face dropped into shock. Pain curled beneath his breastbone and he let his hand fall. "Maka?"

She sat up and opened her eyes, breathing heavily. She curled her knees into her chest and shivered, blinking at Soul with wide, fearful eyes. Her blonde hair fell in a curtain around her pale face, making the bags under her eyes darker and the pale blue veins under her skin bluer.

"You will not make me stronger." Her words were half-garbled and thick with hysteria. "You will not! I WON'T LET YOU!" She dove into another scream.

"Maka! Maka it's me! Soul!" Soul reached for her hand again, but she clawed at his grip with sharp, taloned fingers.

"You're not real!" she hissed, glaring hatefully at Soul beneath hooded lids. "You've never been real! Soul would never act like that! Soul would never –"

"Nurse!" Soul shouted, standing up and striding towards the curtained divider separating the truly sick students from the "well" ones. "Madame Pompfrey!"

The bed behind him creaked and Soul lunged for Maka, catching her around the waist before she ran out the door. She screamed and tore at him, but Soul endured her attacks, oblivious to the physical pain she inflicted on him. He managed to wrestle her into the bed, pinning her down as gently as possible.

In desperation, he closed his eyes and reached out for her soul wavelength, trying to listen to her soul's music through his piano, but all he sensed was a distorted cacophony of twisted noise; madness that made his scar ache and drove spikes through his head.

"Come on now, Maka." He struggled to hold her down. "You're supposed to be the strong one, remember! I'm supposed to be the crazy one!"

"What's going on?" Kid and Black Star strolled in from the hallway with their weapons and a few Hogwarts students on their tails. "Who's scream–?" Kid's sentence ended abruptly as his yellow-eyed gaze landing on Maka thrashing beneath Soul.

Soul threw a wild glance over his shoulder. "Help!"

Hermione took off in the direction of the curtain, screaming for Madame Pompfrey. Kid and Black Star knelt at Maka's bedside and Fred and George took over for Soul helping to hold Maka down.

"What's going on?" Harry was beside Soul, peering down at Maka thrashing on the narrow hospital bed.

"She, she –" Soul panted. "She, can't remember me."

Harry's eyes were wide behind his glasses. "What?"

"She thinks I'm . . ." Soul staggered back. His knees connected with the empty bed beside Maka and he fell, catching himself on the thin cushion. "Someone else." His voice was as hollow as he felt.

"What's wrong with her?" Kid knelt over Maka, gripping the bedframe surrounding her narrow bed with both hands. "Maka!" He tried to catch her attention amidst the hysteria. "MAKA!"

She blinked twice and her scream died in her throat. Shivers racked her body and blood ran down the back of her neck, staining the freshly-pressed white sheets.

"Kid?" she gasped, sucking in deep breathes through her mouth.

Kid smiled slightly and took her face in his hands. His silver skull rings pressed against the side of her head as he inspected the cloudy fear swirling in her eyes. "It's just me, Maka. You're alright."

Maka's head jerked to the side and her gaze landed on Soul again. "Keep _him_ away from me!" she pointed at Soul, scooting to the far end of her narrow bed.

Soul stood up roughly and held his hand up, palms out towards her. "I'm going," he said thickly. His lungs expanded painfully in his chest, but there was no oxygen for him to breathe. He tried to step back, but the bed behind him cut off his escape. "See? I'm leaving."

Ron clapped a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Don't go anywhere, mate," he whispered. "She's going to need you when she really wakes up."

"MADAME POMPFREY!" Hermione's screech was almost as shrill as Maka's screams.

"I'm coming, child, I'm coming!" Madame Pompfrey bustled out from behind the curtain with a thick syringe in hand. "Oh my, she's a screamer."

Maka's hysteria returned in full. She screamed with her face buried in the folds of Kid's jacket. Neville and Luna sat side-by-side on the bed beside Maka with grim looks on their faces. Tsubaki was crying with her face pressed into Black Star's shoulder and Liz and Patty knelt quietly on the floor beside Kid.

"There we go, dear. It'll be alright." Madame Pompfrey edged behind Maka, gently sticking the needle into Maka's exposed arm. "Now you'll get a good's night sleep."

Maka batted at the old nurse, but she had already retreated to a safe distance with the needle.

"Hysteria and confusion," she said to Soul, placing the needle on the side table next to Maka. "It's common for patients with a concussion to experience a bit of both. Especially after a serious trauma like the one she went through." She nodded to Maka's slumping form. "There, there, child. Get some rest."

Maka's fists slowly unclenched from Kid's jacket and she fell back onto the pillows stacked against the bed. Her screams slowly died and her mouth closed gently. She blinked once, twice, three times, turning her head to stare at Soul's wavering form. She thrust a punch in his direction, but her arm fell weakly onto her stomach and her head fell back. She drifted into unconsciousness without a sound – opposite of how she'd come into consciousness.

"There we go." Madame Pompfrey took a seat beside the sleeping Maka and gingerly tilted her head to the side. "Now, let's change these bandages, shall we?"

Soul cringed as the old nurse unwrapped Maka's bloodied bandages. The damage the Bludger had done was severe to Soul's untrained eyes. The back of her neck was one large bruise from the base of her neck to the middle of the back of her head. Blood from skin torn by the force of the ball trickled down the back of her neck, staining the pillow beneath her head. Skin that hadn't been torn was horrifying shades of purple and black all the way down to where the skin of her neck disappeared into the collar of her shirt.

Soul's gut clenched as he watched Madame Pompfrey's hands trace down the broken skin. Ron laid a comforting hand on his shoulder and Harry eyed Soul mournfully. The old nurse gently tied some new gauze around Maka's head and applied a healing salve to the torn skin.

"There." She said, laying a wrinkled hand on Maka's forehead. "The damage isn't too severe. I initially thought she had a concussion, but it appears the Bludger did more external damage than internal. She should be good to go in a few days, provided she doesn't do any more damage to herself."

She stood up and grabbed the syringe from the side table. She clapped the needle into the palm of her hands and faced the weary group. "Now. All of you, go get some rest." Her eyes lingered meaningfully on Soul. "She'll be here when you wake up."

"I can't just leave her like this!" Soul bared his pointed teeth at the old nurse, gripping Maka's bedframe with both hands. "She's, she's . . ." his voice trailed off and his eyes swept down wards.

Maka looked so small in the narrow hospital bed. Her palms were stacked on her stomach and her ashy blonde hair was free of its pigtails, laying around her head in a wavy halo. Her green eyes were shut and the lids were pale with bruised purple veins tracing beneath the skin. She looked so tired and there was an odd expression settling into all the nooks and crannies of her expression – fear. It was something he didn't often see on his meister's face and now that it was here . . . it was certainly no coincidence, to say the least.

Soul turned around with a pained look on his face. "I can't leave her." He looked only at Kid when he spoke.

"Sitting by her side waiting for her to wake up isn't going to help her either, Soul Eater." Madame Pompfrey's face was kind as she walked back towards Soul. She reached out and laid a wrinkled hand on his shoulder, squeezing softly. "She'll wake up when she's good and ready."

The old nurse reached for a glass of water on Maka's side table and drank it quickly, clearing her throat. "Maka suffered a tremendous trauma. She has regained consciousness a few times, so the damage isn't major, but I think there's something more going on here than just the damage inflicted by the Bludger." She crossed her arms over her chest. "Now all of you, out! This is a sick bay! I don't want you guys getting sick because you're stubborn!"

"You just don't get it." Soul turned away, crossing his arms over his chest. "If this was Death City, it wouldn't be a problem. I know the people there, I know it's safe for my meister. But here . . ." his voice trailed off and he looked back at the wizened old nurse. "I don't know if anything's safe."

"The instinct for a weapon to protect his or her meister is stronger than anything." Kid moved around the bed to rest his hand on Soul's shoulder. He levelled his yellow-eyed gaze at the kindly old nurse. "But Maka's safe here, right? You can guarantee that, Madame Pompfrey?"

She nodded sharply. "I can." She looked to Soul and her eyes softened. "Maka is safe here. Whatever she saw can't harm her here. I promise."

Soul's gaze landed back on his meister and his hands clenched into painful fists. "Alright," he said finally. "I give. I'll go catch a few winks."

"Then class in the morning." Madame Pompfrey pointed a finger at all the Hogwarts students. "Goes for you lot as well."

"I'm going to visit Maka first." Soul locked gazes with the nurse.

Steel burned in her eyes. "Better get up early."

Soul's eyes were ruby fire. "I will."

"Hmph." Madame Pompfrey turned away and stepped through the dividing curtain. "Teenagers," she scoffed with a shake of her head.

Soul's eyes lingered around Maka as the rest of the group got ready to go. Hermione, Luna, the twins, and Tsubaki brushed their hands through Maka's hair and the boys just gripped the bedpost and stared down at her limp form with sober eyes. Soul was about to turn away when heavy footsteps echoed on the stone behind him. He turned with the rest of the departing group and watched Ginny run towards them, still in her practice robes. She stopped near the gathering and her head lowered as she sucked deep breathes in through her mouth. She bent, resting her elbows on her knees and thrust a small package at Soul.

"Here!" she gasped, shaking the package in his direction. "Like I promised."

Soul gently took the package from her. "What is it?"

"Chocolate frogs." Her eyes burned when she lifted her gaze to meet his. "Five of them. You guys deserve them."

Soul's fingers shook as he tore open the package. He plucked a chocolate frog out from its packaging and lowered it into his mouth the way he would a soul. He chewed and swallowed quickly; the small chocolate frog dissolved deliciously in his mouth. "It's good."

"Leave some for her." Ginny nodded her head at Maka. "She's the one who did the good flying, not you."

Despite his mood, Soul's lips quirked up in a grin. "Alright." He laid the rest of the package on the table next to Maka's bed, rewrapping the frogs to keep them from hopping out of their packaging. "There you go, Maka," he said, slipping his hands into his pockets. "Sleep well."


	9. A Day Without Maka

GOD! I'm terrible, I know! So sorry to keep you guys waiting! I promise, I'll update faster next time. I'm just trying to juggle too much right now. Okay. This chap's kind of long to make up for the wait and hopefully, I'll have the next one up tomorrow or something. Okay? Okay. Cool. Umm, yeah. Bye. Hope you like it! Let me know what you think!

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Without Maka

**Soul**

The first day without Maka was terrible. Soul hadn't realized just how much he'd come to rely on her presence throughout the day. Kid was cool and so were Harry and Ron. Fred and George were nice guys, sure. And even Lee Jordan kind of liked Soul. But none of them were his meister and none of them could keep his mind off Maka for long.

She had kept Professor Snape occupied during Potions class by throwing questions at him whenever he tried to pick on Soul the way he did Harry. She had kept Soul entertained throughout Charms class – Worst. Class. Ever. Seriously, who came up with that crap? – and during the free period they'd gained after dropping out of Transfiguration.

She was his best friend, something he tended to forget and take advantage of. The time he spent without Maka had him thinking about the days before her. The days when he was just the baby brother of Wes Evans, accomplished violinist. And none of those thoughts were even remotely cool.

After the vomit-inducing Potions class and the hellishy boring Charms class, during the period reserved for Flying Lessons, Soul hung out with Harry and Ron. They spent their time in one of the numerous Hogwarts courtyards, playing a few odd rounds of Wizard's Chess. He spent the last hour or so before Defense against the Dark Arts – his last class of the day, thank God – with Neville in the Owlery, hunting for his toad (or, more likely, the poor thing's remains).

After almost an hour of searching, they took a break, perching on the poop-covered stairs to share an odd conversation.

"So how're you doing?" Neville asked with slight trepidation. "I know nobody will ask you, but I figured I might." Neville, who Soul had always compared to a post-Medusa Crona (before he'd gone re-evil), looked his way with something like friendship kindling in his eyes.

Soul, who'd managed to keep up his cool guy attitude all day, dropped it suddenly with a weary sigh. "Not good, man." He dropped his face into his hands, scrubbing it with long, hard strokes. "I'm totally not cool on the inside."

Neville nodded slowly. "I figured. You two seem close."

"She's my meister." Soul's voice was rough and muffled between his hands. "I'm worried about her."

"It must be kind of cool," Neville shrugged. "To have someone you're so close to."

Soul peered between his hands at the shy boy. "Yeah, I guess it is."

Neville looked away. "Wish I had that."

Soul blinked in surprise. "You do, man."

Neville looked up with both eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"Well, Harry and Ron are your friends. So are Ginny and the twins. Hermione's cool with you. And Luna likes you, too." Soul shrugged. "Seems like those guys are all the friends you need."

Neville blinked twice and smiled lightly. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Don't sweat it, man." Soul stood up, shrugging back into his cool guy persona. "You're a pretty cool guy. But you don't have to be afraid all the time. Take it from someone who knows." His mind flipped back to Crona and he sighed heavily. "C'mon, we've got to go. Or we'll be late to class."

"Yeah."

Neville and Soul made it to the DADA room with just a few minutes to spare. They slid into the classroom and found two empty seats at the back, just behind Harry and his gang.

"Nice to see you, shark-tooth." Ron exchanged grins with the white-haired weapon. "Didn't think you and Longbottom were going to make it."

"Hey, Neville!" Seamus waved at the tall boy. "Breezin' in at the last minute, not like you at all!"

Neville smiled shyly. "Yeah, well. Soul was helping me find my toad."

"I saw Maka at lunch today, Soul." Hermione bounced into her seat, with her books clutched to her chest. "She's looking better, I guess. Not as pale."

"Did she wake up?" Soul's eyes alighted on the smart Gryffindor student with keen interest.

Hermione looked down and shook her head. "No, sorry. I went with Ginny and Luna, just for a second. If she woke up, it wasn't while we were there."

"Oh, boy." Harry frowned, resting his forearms on Neville's desk and leaning towards the two boys. "Here comes trouble."

Malfoy walked in with Crabbe and Goyle right behind him. The three Slytherin students, nasty to the core, flashed eerie grins at Soul as they took their seats. Soul bared his teeth at the terrible trio, resting his chin on his folded arms.

"Easy, boy-o." Seamus leaned in with Black Star trailing behind him. "They're just looking to stir up trouble."

"They know you haven't met Professor Umbridge yet." Kid added his voice to the lively conversation floating through Soul's ears.

"And they know Maka's not here either." Black Star's lips curled up in a dark sneer. "They're just itching to get you thrown in detention."

"You don't want to go there." Harry's hand fisted around his wrist and Ron and Hermione scowled darkly. "Trust me."

"Alright, everyone! Class is starting!" Professor Umbridge stood at the top of the stairs, hovering in the threshold of her tiny office.

She was dressed in head-to-toe pink and Soul could see even more pink in the doorway behind her. She reached back and shut the door sharply, waddling down the wooden steps on high-heeled pink shoes.

"What's her deal?" Soul whispered to Harry out of the corner of his mouth. "Who stuck a bee up her butt?"

Ron snorted with laughter as Harry leaned back and said, "She's from the Ministry of Magic, that's kind of like the wizarding body of government. High-law around here. Anyway, she thinks she's hot stuff 'cause she's friends with the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge."

Soul grinned. "Nice name."

"Excuse me!" Professor Umbridge stood stiffly at the head of the class with a ruler clutched between her fat, meaty hands. "Is there something funny about page number 56 in your textbook?"

"No, ma'am." Soul saluted her, tugging Neville's textbook between them. "Sorry," he whispered and the boy shrugged with a grin.

"And just who, exactly, are you?" The ruler was thrust into Soul's face with determined force, almost smacking against the end of his nose.

He looked up and blinked at the pink professor on the other end of the ruler. His hand fisted tightly around his pen. Never one to lose his cool though, Soul leaned back casually, stretching his long legs out in front of him. "Soul Eater."

Umbridge's pink mouth twisted downward in a prim frown. "That's a funny name."

"I chose it myself," Soul said over Malofy's chuckles.

"Well, what's your real name, then?" Umbridge thrust the ruler back into his face. The way she was waving her ruler reminded Soul of that rotten weapon Excalibur. The comparison made him chuckle lowly – which was precisely the wrong thing to do. "Think it's funny, hmm, _Soul Eater_? What's so funny about wanting to know my students?"

"Sorry, Professor," Soul raised his hands in the air in a peaceful gesture. "I was thinking of something else. Anyway, I'm only here for a couple more days. Until then, you can just call me Soul Eater."

"That's preposterous! I _must_ know your real name." Umbridge dropped the ruler onto his desk with a sharp clatter.

"Look, _Professor_." A vein began to throb near Soul's temple. "My name is Soul Eater. That's what everyone calls me, that's what I call myself, so that's what you should call me. I'm not a wizard, I'm a Death Scythe, okay? And I'm only here until my meister heals and we collect the soul of some guy in Hogsmeade village. The only reason I'm in these stupid classes is because the headmaster signed me up for them. So can you please just call me Soul Eater and move on already?" Soul leaned back in his seat watching the pink on the professor's cheeks morph into an angry red rouge.

"You are quite possibly the rudest boy I've ever had the misfortune of teaching!" she huffed, waddling to the front of the room. "I was only being polite," she insisted above the snickers of the class.

"Yeah, right," Soul muttered, hanging his head.

"Was that backtalk, Mr. Eater?" Umbridge picked up a thin pink clipboard from her desk at the front of the room.

"Just call me Soul," Soul called. "Mr. Eater just sounds weird."

"That's two strikes now, Mr. Eater." Umbridge ticked something off on her shiny clipboard. "One more and you and I will be spending the afternoon together in my office discussing the reasons why detention is a beneficial disciplinary measure for students."

Soul's mouth lowered, but he shut his trap and buried his head in his arms.

He endured the rest of the class without complaint, rolling his eyes beneath closed lids and snickering softly with Neville and Ron whenever the pink lady made some stupid comment (which was always). At the end of the class, she let them split up into groups to discuss what they'd read in their textbooks – a boring three page article entitled _Practical Ways to Defend Yourself Through Spellwork._

"Okay, so I know I'm not a wizard or anything," Soul said as Harry, Ron, and Neville flipped back to chat. "But doesn't it seem a little odd that you guys are reading out of a textbook on how to defend yourselves?" He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his seat. "I mean, shouldn't you be trying out these spells? Isn't that how you learn them?"

"A man after your own heart, Harry." Ron nudged his friend in the side and Harry shot him a dirty look.

"Quiet! You want her to hear!" He thumped Ron with his DADA textbook.

Soul passed a raised eyebrow between the boys. "Okay . . . does someone want to fill me in about what's going on?"

"Not here." Harry slid his gaze across the table to where Malfoy and his goons were flipping through the pages of their spellbook. "Know where the seventh floor is?" His eyes were wide and trusting behind his glasses.

Soul rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh, above the sixth?"

"Nice one, shark-tooth." Ron chuckled, thumping the white-haired weapon on the back of the head. "Meet us there after class today, we'll talk then."

"Bring Maka if you can." Harry pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "If she's awake, I mean."

"I doubt it." Soul's gaze dropped. He ran a finger over the worn wooden table, tracing his name into the wood with his finger. "Besides even if she was, she wouldn't want to go anywhere with me."

"Then bring Black Star and Kid." Ron clapped Soul on the shoulder. "We could use their help anyway."

Soul looked eagerly between the three boys. "Now you've got me interested."

* * *

"What is this place?" Soul's red eyes were glimmering orbs.

Torchlight bounced within his ruby pupils, reflecting the cool, shimmering surface of the room he was in. Massive, arching pillars held up the stony ceiling, ending abruptly several feet off the floor. A roaring fireplace flickered across from him, reflecting warmly on the blue tinge of the room. He stepped forward and his feet crunched on a thick iron grate set between several massive stone slabs.

"It's wicked cool." He slipped his hands in his pockets and walked slowly around the room's perimeter.

"It's the Room of Requirement." Harry, Ron, Neville, Fred and George filed in after Soul. "It shows up only when you need it the most."

"Don't tell me you formed some secret cult in here?" Soul's head swung as he looked about the room. "Because this place screams dark and mysterious secrets."

Ron laughed. "Not quite, shark-tooth."

"Maybe not a cult." Fred slid an arm around one side of Soul's shoulder.

And George slid his arm around the other. "More of a secret army against Umbridge and the Dark Forces she works for."

"Wait." Soul shook them off. "Are you trying to tell me Umbridge is evil?"

The twins shared a look. "Not like that, you twat. She's just naturally malicious."

"Let's wait for the others." Harry took out his wand and began practicing a few spells in the air.

Slowly, the room filled with students. Soul saw Ginny and Hermione file in together with Luna Lovegood right behind them. Harry pointed out a couple other students to Soul as they came in.

"That's Justin Flinch-Fletchley. Him. With the dark hair. Oh, and that's Colin Creevy. Nice guy. Kind of annoying. And that's his brother, Dennis. He's really young though, so he's kind of like an honorary member. That's Lee Jordan, you know him; he's friends with the twins. Umm, let's see who else . . ."

"YAHOO!"

Soul closed his eyes and his face slipped into its natural scowl. "Great. Black Star's here."

"If he's not careful, he'll get us all discovered." Seamus Finnigan came in two steps ahead of Black Star, brushing dust off his coat. "Seriously, that guy's a menace."

"Tell me about it." Soul rolled his eyes as Black Star bust through the Room of Requirement's decorated iron doors. Tsubaki stepped in after him, desperately trying to shush her meister.

"Black Star! I don't think you should be yelling! This is kind of against the rules, according to the pink lady!"

"Oh." Black Star quieted. For a second. "SORRY!" he practically screamed.

"Tell me again why we all had to come here separately." Kid was not far behind Black Star, rolling through the doors on his skateboard. Patty skipped in behind him, laughing happily. "I mean, honestly. Are you _that_ scared of Professor Umbridge?" He looked around the group gathered before him.

"I'm not scared of that witch." Ron puffed his chest out.

"We just hate her." Harry rubbed his wrist absently. "This is kind of a smack in the face to her awful teaching methods. But it only works as long as we keep quiet about it."

Kid nodded. "Right."

"Are you _sure_ there are no creepy monsters in here?" Liz stepped carefully in after her sister, covering her eyes with one hand. "Because this room looks scary enough for some creepy monsters to come out and EAT ME!"

Kid rolled his yellow eyes. "You'll be fine, Liz. If you get scared just transform and go to sleep, okay?"

"Yeah, okay." She didn't sound too hopeful.

"Did you guys see Maka?" Soul looked between Liz, Patty, and Tsubaki. "Is she doing alright?"

"She hasn't woken up since that first time." Tsubaki shook her head sadly. "I talked to the nurse about it, but she said it was normal after the trauma Maka went through."

Soul rubbed the back of his neck and looked down. "This is getting ridiculous."

"Alright." Harry clapped his hands together. "Let's get started. DA, we've got a couple guests with us today. Say hello to Soul, Tsubaki, Black Star, Kid, Liz, and Patty. They're all meisters from the DWMA."

The group turned to eye the DWMA students with varying degrees of caution.

"They're not wizards or anything." Harry strolled through the gathered group to stand by Soul and his friends. "But I really think they could help us in our fight against Lord Voldemort."

Soul slid the crazy-haired boy a wide-eyed look. "Uh, gazuntite."

Kid reached up to finger his skull tie. "He's in one of my dad's files. Tom Riddle, I believe his name was."

Harry nodded. "Yep. Guess I'll cut the explanation short, then. Lord Voldemort is the bane of the wizarding world, he's the evil everyone fears, and he's who we're trying to fight." He stepped back and spread his arms towards the group gathered behind him. "We are Dumbledore's Army. And this is us, taking the fight to Lord Voldemort."

"You could just call him You-Know-Who." Ron's face was unusually pale. He cleared his throat. "You know, whatever you prefer."

Harry cut him a look.

"He gave you that scar, didn't he?" Kid nodded to Harry's thick bangs. "The one shaped like a lightning bolt."

Harry stepped back with shock etched across his face. He clapped a hand over the scar and his wand arm shook slightly at his side. "How did you –?"

"It's an honor to meet you, Chosen One." Kid stepped forward to shake Harry's hand with a knowing grin. "I know all about you from my father's files. What a destiny you have laid out for you. And what a future you have in store."


	10. Creatures of Blood

YAY! New chap. Sorry it took forever. This one has an OC from Heather45689 in it so thanks to her for giving me that character! :) (if you want me to put an OC in either this story or my other one that's totally fine just send me a message and I'll stick them in somewhere) And yes, I did stuck a Merlin Fandom reference in her, for those that didn't catch it, now you know. Oh and **ONE OTHER THING**: For those of you who don't know, Death City is located in America, somewhere in the desert in Nevada. Okay? On with the story! Hope you like it and don't forget to tell me what you think :)

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Creatures of Blood

**Death the Kid**

"This kid?" Black Star pointed to Harry with a confused look. "The Chosen One?" He burst out laughing, holding his gut with both hands. "Yeah, right. That's a laugh. This kid can barely keep his head straight for five minutes. He's not the Chosen One!"

Seamus socked the laughing meister a good one in the jaw. "Ease up, boy-o." He hooked his elbow around Harry's neck. "This guy's bloody brilliant."

"Say that again, Shining Star?" Fred and George asked menacingly, kneeling beside the blue-haired assassin. "What we're you saying 'bout our boy Harry?"

He jerked his head up and glared at the grinning red-heads. "IT'S BLACK STAR!"

Tsubaki shoved her meister's head back down onto the ground. "He's really sorry. Honest. He just says stuff sometimes without thinking about it." She smiled brightly with trace amounts of irritation hiding in her eyes.

"What does it mean to be the Chosen One?" Soul asked Kid, slipping his hands in his pockets. "What's this kid going to do?"

"Destiny?" Ron blinked at Harry who blushed uncomfortably, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Fate?" He turned back to Kid with narrowed eyes. "You're starting to sound an awful like Professor Trelawney, Kid."

Kid looked down at the ground, scuffing the grate with the toe of his expensive leather shoe. "Just . . . forget I said anything."

"WHAT?!" The assembled students frowned at the young reaper with various stages of disgusted surprise on their faces.

"Come on, man." Lee Jordan crossed his arms over his chest. "Don't just leave us hanging like that."

"Way to go, Kid." Liz massaged her temples with a weary sigh. "Your dad's not going to be happy when he hears about this."

"Ugh, I've already said too much." Kid rubbed the back of his head. He really did feel bad about saying it. He just couldn't help it. According to his dad's prophecies . . . well, in a few years, this kid was going to be big news.

He slipped his hands in his pockets and leaned forward. "Don't listen to me. You'll find out soon enough, anyway. Just, keep doing what you're doing, Harry." Kid levelled his yellow eyes at the boy with the lightning tattoo. "You're going to be great, someday." He shrugged and a tight grin curled his lips up. "Actually, you're already great. A legend in your own right. Bit someday soon, you'll make history. I promise."

Harry's blush spread down his neck, staining the skin of his collarbone a prickly pink. He fiddled with the red and gold tie around his neck, clearing his throat uncomfortably. "Well." He turned back to Dumbledore's Army with a nervous grin. "That's all well and good, but right now I'm just Harry. And I've got a real Defense against the Dark Arts lesson to teach, so if you guys want to stand back and watch, that's fine. We'll start with –"

"Hold on, Harry." Soul stopped the young wizard's quick retreat. "I want to know the real reason you called us here."

Harry faced him with an odd smile on his lips. "What do you mean?"

"You wouldn't just call us up here to make us watch you wave your wand back and forth." Soul's red eyes were thin slits. "You want our help with something. Am I right?"

Harry grinned and his glasses flashed in the cool blue light of the Room of Requirement. "There _is_ something you guys could help us with." He waved to Ron and Neville with his wand and the two boys shuffled the DA back towards the room's innards, talking loudly of the day's new lessons. "And in turn, I think there's something we could do for you."

Soul bared his teeth at the clever wizard. "What's that?"

Behind Harry, the DA started their lessons, firing blue sparks at each other in wide strokes. Ron and Hermione floated back towards Harry, flanking him in perfect formation. They crossed their arms over their chest and the DWMA students reacted in kind. Suspicion drifted among the students and a twinge of uneasy began plucking at Kid's gut.

"We could help you find the Kishin."

**Soul **

Two hours later, the DA sat gathered around the DWMA students, flicking their wands back and forth in bored silence.

"So you're telling me that what _my father_ couldn't do, you can do in half a year?" Kid rocked back on his heels, crossing his arms over his chest. "Highly unlikely."

"No." Harry was ready to tear his hair out in frustration. "Look, I'll say it again: _We_ keep an eye out for the Kishin and _you_ watch for Lord Voldemort."

"This guy's first priority probably isn't Death City." Soul linked his arms behind his head, staring up at the arching ceiling of the Room of Requirement.

"I wouldn't be so sure, shark-tooth." Ron nudged Soul's white head with the heel of his shoe. "Lord Voldemort's a world-domination kind of guy."

"He's pretty intent on killing Harry right now, though." Hermione piped up beside Ron, tapping her shoes together. "And he hasn't really shown his face to the public eye yet. But when he does, he and his Death Eaters will be all over the place, not just in England."

"There are wizards everywhere, even in America." Harry pointed out. "And Voldemort wants their power. He'd go to the ends of the earth if it meant getting more power."

"I don't know . . ." Kid sat back with his arms firmly crossed around his middle.

"Sounds like a good deal to me, Kid." Soul tipped his head back to stare at the reaper. "Voldemort is everywhere and nowhere at once. And – whataya know? – so is the Kishin. It would be good to have a few more eyes looking out for him."

Kid fisted his hand around the collar of Soul's shirt and dragged him backwards. Soul scowled, but let himself be dragged back until he and Kid were a fair distance from the others. "Yeah, that's all well and good, but do you think they can handle the Kishin if they do come across him?" The reaper levelled a heavy scowl at the young weapon.

"No, probably not." Soul shrugged and looked back at the gathered witches and wizards. His gaze then shifted towards the DWMA students.

Black Star was asleep with his head resting in Tsubaki's lap. A little curl of drool slipped out of his mouth as Tsubaki petted his head absently. Patty was also napping, curled against her sister's side. She twitched in her sleep and Soul thought he saw her mouth the word giraffe, but the girl turned and her face lolled backwards in sleep. Liz rested her elbow on the crown of Patty's head and inspected her nails, picking at the cuticles with careful patience.

He turned back to Kid with half a grin. "Come to think of it, I don't think we could handle Lord Voldy-whatever. We couldn't even handle the Kishin when he was on our turf. How are we supposed to take on a wizard we don't know anything about?" He slipped his hands into his pockets. "But they're not asking us to take him on, they're asking us to watch out for him. That's all we're asking of them as well."

Kid's face softened, but his eyes were guarded. "Are you sure?"

Soul nodded. "I've got a good feeling about this, Kid. And I don't say that often." His red eyes glowed as he raked them over the Hogwarts students. "These kids are cool. And more than that, they seem like genuinely good people." His mind jumped back to Malfoy's leering face when he'd grinned at Maka and his gaze darkened considerably. "Well. Most of them anyway."

"So, what do you think?" Harry stood as Kid and Soul moved back towards the DA with cautious steps. "Do we have a deal?"

Kid aimed another look at Soul, dark eyebrow melting into his hairline. Soul nodded and the young reaper smiled, extending his hand towards Harry's.

"It's a deal."

Harry's hand closed around Kid's pale one and they shook, cementing the bridge of friendship, not only between the two boys, but between the two schools as well. As they released hands and stood back with bright grins, Soul fell to his knees, clutching his chest in red-hot agony.

"AHHHHH!" A terrible scream ripped from his throat as his scar flared hotly, burning pain along his ribcage.

"Soul!" Kid dropped beside his friend, catching the white-haired boy before his head hit the ground.

"Shark-tooth! You alright?" Ron and Harry caught Soul's other side, hoisting the weapon onto his feet.

"It hurts," Soul muttered between clenched teeth. His hand fisted around the orange material of his t-shirt. "God, it hurts." His head dropped between his shoulder blades.

"What –?"

The doors to the Room of Requirement burst inward. A golden-haired girl rushed inward, breathing hard. Her hair swung forward around her chin as she rested her elbows on her knees, sucking deep breathes in through her mouth.

"Heather!" Hermione and Luna rushed forward, locking their arms around the curvy girl. "Are you okay?"

"Where's Soul!" Heather jerked her head up, looking for the white-haired weapon. Their gazes locked and the girl's hazel-green eyes widened, bright with fear and pain. "Soul!"

The girl ran forward, collapsing at Soul's side with her blue and silver robes billowing out behind her. Luna knelt at her side and Hermione hovered above her, eyeing her friend worriedly.

"Soul, this is Heather Bennett." Hermione started to introduce her. "We took her to visit Maka a few times. She's really nice and –"

The Ravenclaw girl cut over Hermione's voice with a terrified cry. "It's Maka!" She swung her head back around toward the Room of Requirement's doors like she was checking over her shoulder. "There's something's wrong with Maka! I went down to read to her and –"

Soul's hand fisted around the girl's shirt. He shook her lightly with his pointy teeth bared. "Show me."

**Maka**

Maka rushed into consciousness with a sound like fluttering wings. A scream lodged in her throat, but she held it back, staring up at the far away ceiling with wide, fearful eyes.

_Where am I?_ A candle burned on the table to her right. She reached for it with careful fingers, but her hand hit a row of long iron bars surrounding her narrow bed. _What is this place?_

She sat up, massaging the scream from her chest with a shaky hand. She looked around wildly, noting the distinct absence of people from the long, narrow room. The beds to her right and left were empty, as well as the ones lined against the wall in front of her. _Where's Soul? I can't stay here, I need to find –!_

The faraway memory of a dream landed on her shoulder and crawled into her ear. No, not a dream, she realized, shuddering as its cold wetness seeped into her waking consciousness. A nightmare.

The Black Room. Soul. The demon imp.

Black.

Blood.

All at once, the memories of the last few days rushed back to her and she collapsed onto her back with a heavy breath. _Hogwarts_, she thought, looking around the dark infirmary. _I'm at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_. She sat up again and hesitantly peeked around the room. Cobwebs lingered in the corners of the vast room and dust motes sang through the air near her candle. The narrow hospital beds around her had been stripped clean of all their sheets, leaving nothing but the bare iron bones the mattresses sat on. Her lip curled in a petulant frown. _Nice place._

She lowered the iron bars around her bed and swung her legs over the side. A vast white sheet hung over her legs and she frowned, plucking at the thick material as it swept the ground beneath her feet. _A hospital gown?_ The large dress swooped up her middle and covered both her arms, ballooning out in the open space where her chest should have been. _It's way too big for me. Soul will probably call me flat-chested again if he sees me wearing this. _

Another thought struck her and she stood, balling the loose material of the thick white gown in her fist. _Wait? Who changed me into this?_ She shuddered and closed her eyes. _Don't think about that Maka, you've got more important things to do right now. _

She stopped, facing the small nightstand beside her bed. The candle sputtered in its hot wax, nearly drowning in the thick, soupy liquid. _What am I doing?_ Her gaze drifted back to her bed. _I should just sleep. There's nothing I'm supposed to be doing now. _

She started to sit down, but a shiny blue package drew her attention to the nightstand. She turned back, plucking the candle and raising it high over the shimmering package.

"Chocolate Frogs?" she mouthed, reading the glowing gold letters embossed on the waxy material.

She undid the wrapper, nearly dropping the candle as a brown frog leaped from its packaging and onto the thick fabric of her hospital gown. Her mouth opened in a scream, but the frog hopped up into her mouth, silencing her with the thick taste of chocolate. She closed her mouth around the little frog, ignoring the crunch it made in her mouth, and smiled. As she chewed, she picked up a little card hidden among the wrapper the frog had jumped out of.

A young dark-haired wizard waved at her out of the shimmering card. He had icy blue eyes, complimented by a flamingly red scarf tied around his neck. His clothes were rather shabby – medieval farm boy style, most likely – but they didn't diminish his blazing smile. He raised his hand towards Maka and his eyes flashed bright gold.

"Merlin." Maka read, flipping the card over. "Cool." She stuffed him into her pocket and peered at the other goodies on the side table.

Cards and flowers had been left by Hogwarts students as well as a generous helping of Chocolate Frogs. She unwrapped another frog and popped it in her mouth before it could get away, letting its warm chocolaty taste run down her throat. She grinned and plucked two small skull rings off the table, slipping them onto her finger with a smile. Kid's gift was the most precious to Maka, with a small Camilla blossom from Tsubaki coming in close second. Patty left a stuffed giraffe – with a slightly lopsided neck – and Black Star had left his autograph (which Maka promptly crushed into a ball and tossed aside with a roll of her eyes).

Soul hadn't left anything, but Maka hadn't expected him to. It wasn't his style, and he probably hadn't felt too generous after Maka's tremendous freak-out the other day. Her cheeks heated as she remembered the horrified look on his face after she'd shoved him away. She was going to have some serious apologizing to do before Soul ever forgave her.

She settled back into her bed with a smile, kicking her legs over the side. She was working on her fourth chocolate frog when a sound from the other side of the room caught her attention. She slid her gaze towards the curtained divider, green eyes wide with unexpected fear.

Indistinct muttering reached her ears, coupled with the quiet sound of rustling feathers. The frog in her mouth melted into ash as Maka grabbed the candle by its wax base, holding it like a beacon above her head. She tiptoed towards the divider, listening as the quiet murmurings became clearer and clearer.

"I can't hold him back." Madame Pompfrey's voice reached Maka through the curtain, quiet and strained with something close to fear. "He's too strong."

"You must try Poppy." That was Professor Dumbledore's voice. Maka was sure of it. She tiptoed closer, turning her head towards the sound of their voices.

"Albus –" The rustling sound grew louder, drowning out her nervous whispers.

"Hold him down!"

"He's too strong!" Their voices grew louder as the rustling increased.

Something cracked on the other side of the curtain and Madame Pompfrey shrieked.

"NO!" A blue flash of light accompanied Dumbldore's cry of despair and Maka desperately pedaled backwards.

A loud growl peeled through the air, grating Maka's nerves and raising the hairs on the back of her neck. Whatever had happened – whatever they'd let out – it didn't sound friendly.

"TRISTAN!"

"Poppy, Stop! He's gone! The blood its –"

The curtain fell in tatters at Maka's feet. A few seconds after, the harsh sound of shredding fabric reached her ears. Blood roared through her veins and her heart pumped feverishly as she backed away from the ruined curtain, blinking at the Hogwarts teachers with wide green eyes.

Professor Dumbledore and Madame Pompfrey were hovering over the bed of a small boy with reddish-brown hair. He was a first year student – judging by his size – and he still wore his Gryffindor robes, striped with red and gold. He seemed to be breathing, but his breathes were shallow and long between. Madame Pompfrey cried out for the boy again, gripping his wrist with bloodless fingers and feeling desperately for a pulse.

Dumbledore whirled toward Maka with his wand raised, sparkling eyes wide behind his half-moon glasses. In the half a second it took him to recognize the frightened DWMA student, the thing that had severed the curtain scuttled to Maka's side using the shadows as a cover.

Maka whirled in the direction of the creature's footsteps, swallowing a scream building in her throat. The back of her head pounded as the thing moved closer, a vague outline embedded in shadow. It leaned toward her, wrapping a black hand above hers on the candle's stem. With a soft sigh, it blew out her candle in one slow breath.

"GET BACK, CHILD!" Dumbledore screamed, aiming his wand over Maka's shoulder.

A terrific flash of blue light blasted the stone by the creature's head, illuminating his shadowy body for a split second. Maka gasped and dropped the useless candle, scraping her palms against the rough stone in her desperation to get away.

The creature in front of her had a vaguely humanoid shape, but he was crouched on all fours, like he hadn't learned to walk yet. His body was small and hunched with a slight ribcage and a very large back body. His skin was dark, practically black, and oozing a dark, evil liquid. His face was nearly twice the length of Dumbledore's wand and covered with small, beady red eyes. Nearly a hundred eyes watched Maka scuttle backwards, blinking warily as fear kindled in her eyes. He lunged forward on thin, spindly arms, dripping black goo onto the stony floor.

The scream Maka had been holding back burst from her throat, scaring both Maka and the small demon with its ferocious intensity. The thing fell back, catching itself on powerful hind legs. The back body had muscle three times as thick as the ones on its weak upper body. Talon-like nails scratched at the grooves in the stone floor and its winced, spitting black goo onto the floor near Maka's foot.

"WHAT IS THAT!?" she screamed, darting back. "WHAT IS THAT!? WHAT IS THAT!? WHAT IS –"

Dumbledore fired off another shot, but the demon was ready for it. He dodged the blue flash, bounding towards Maka with huge, leaping strides.

"STAY AWAAY!" she screamed, too late.

The thing was already upon her.

It fell over her, pinning her down beneath its strong hind legs. She barely had time to draw another breathe before the thing sneezed on her face, spewing black goo onto her skin. It sizzled when it touched her face and she turned her head to the side, gasping as a loud scream built behind her teeth . . .

And came out as a thin, reedy giggle.

The demon sneezed again and the black goo fell onto her neck, sizzling down her collarbone and dripping onto her shoulders. It ate away at the thick fabric of the nightgown, tearing the bare skin beneath it and revealing new, pink flesh burned with agony. Pain ignited down Maka's front and she twisted beneath the thing, trying to throw its weight off of her. Another scream tried to claw its way out of her throat. Halfway out it morphed into a dangerous laugh.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Her laugh was loud and terrible, high and crazed with pain and hysteria. "You're so funny!" She told the demon dog.

It bent so its head was resting on her collarbone, right above her heart.

The pain was unimaginable. She tasted blood in her mouth and the sickening smell of burnt meat filled her nostrils. _I'm going to die_. The thought was almost welcome in the nauseated pain-ridden organ her brain had become. Her screams died and the giggled took over, bursting from her lungs with rabid enthusiasm.

"Heather!" Dumbledore's face was close to her head, but oddly distant. Fading away as he got closer.

"We meet again." The demon creature blinked down at her, wearing the face of Soul's imp. "Maka Albarn."

Her giggle spiraled into a pained hyena's laugh. She fell into unconsciousness with a crazed smile lingering on her lips and a split in her soul that hadn't been there before.


	11. Lies and Hallucinations?

Ta da! Hope you like it! Sorry it took so long to get out! :) This one's pretty intense, but I assure you . . . next chapter Maka will be up and walking and she and Soul will finally meet again! hehe kay. Tell me what you think!

* * *

Lies and Hallucinations

**Death the Kid**

The hallways were loud with their footsteps. They passed idling students talking outside the Great Hall and lovers trying to sneak in a snog before Umbridge split them apart. All turned their heads to watch Kid and his motley group sprint by, headed for the Hospital Wing of the school. Soul was in the lead with Heather, Harry, Hermione, and Tsubaki right behind him. Ron hung back with his brothers and Black Star while Kid trailed behind with Ginny and Neville. Seamus and Luna were sent to the DADA hallway to keep an eye out for Umbridge and to ring up George and Fred (with their Extendable Ears) if she showed her face.

Kid eyed Soul worriedly as the group came to a halt outside the Hospital Wing. The white-haired weapon bent, clutching his chest and breathing hard.

"Shark-tooth." Ron slid his hands under Soul's armpits and lifted him onto his feet. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," he grunted through his teeth. Between one breathe and the next, he collapsed, reaching for the doors to the Hospital Wing.

"Soul!" Ron and Black Star knelt at his sides, prodding him with nervous fingers.

"Good thing we're near the Nurse," Patty giggled happily. Liz nudged her sister in the side with her elbow.

"Are you alright?" Kid pushed Ron out of the way and knelt beside his friend. He leaned in to where only Black Star and Soul could hear him. "Is it the black blood?"

"It stopped." Soul's tan hand was fisted around the material of his orange t-shirt. He sat up, gingerly prodding the place where a wiry scar traced across his chest. "I'm fine." He blinked up at Kid. "Really. The ache . . . it went away."

"Hmm." Kid stood slowly, slipping his hands into his pockets. "That's probably a good sign." His gaze drifted to the doors to the Hospital Wing. _Or a really, really bad one._

**Soul**

"Maka!" Soul burst through the doors with over a dozen anxious students at his heels.

The room was . . . perfectly in order.

The beds were made, the cobwebs dusted, the large curtain dividing the sick from the well was pinned neatly across the wing. Nothing looked out of place. Even Maka's bed, all the way at the far side of the room, looked fine. There were no immediate signs of damage. Nothing like the hell he had pictured after Heather had come bursting into the Room of Requirement.

"What?" Heater cupped her hands across her mouth. "It wasn't like this a few minutes ago."

Soul slid her a glance. "What do you mean?"

"Students!" Professor Dumbledore and Madame Pompfrey strolled out from beneath the curtain with their arms out in welcome. "What brings you to our Hospital Wing so late at night?"

"You should all be in bed." Madame Pompfrey rested her hands on her hips. "There's much to do tomorrow. Especially for you, young weapon." Her gaze landed rather icily on Soul.

"Where's Maka?" Kid spoke up, cutting over Soul's angry retort. "We want to see her."

"Why, of course. She's right over there." Dumbledore gestured to the bed where Maka lay – perfectly still – on a neatly made bed.

Soul slid the Professor a wary look and strode towards his meister with a defiance. The rest of the students slunk after him, shooting Heather worried looks out of the corners of their eyes. They gathered quietly around Maka's bed, glancing down at the ashy blonde meister, looking for anything out of the ordinary.

Her face was pale and thin, bruised eyelids flickering over bright green eyes. She wore a billowing hospital gown draped shapelessly over her petite form. Her hands were folded neatly on her lap. The bandage around the back of her neck was smaller today, and the veins along her neck didn't look quite so strained. If anything, she looked better than she had before, not worse.

"She looks the same to me." Black Star propped his chin on his fist. "I don't get it. What did you see?" He directed his glance at Heather. The rest of the group followed suit.

Heather shook her head. Her face was pale and she rested her palms gently against her cheeks. "She was screaming. Like crazy. It was so loud and when I came in here." She shook her head. "Then she wasn't screaming anymore she was . . ." Heather's pale face lost all of its color. "_Laughing_. It was almost like she possessed."

Soul staggered back a step, gripping the iron bars around Maka's bed for support. "What?" A horrifying image jolted his brain: Maka, perched on top of his scythe body, with her cape behind her in jagged black bolts, laughing manically. "No." His voice was less than a whisper.

Tsubaki looked at him nervously, chewing on her lower lip.

"Did you see anything else?" Kid stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Any sort of person hanging around her?"

Heather started to shake her head, but her eyes grew cloudy and she looked away. "Umm. Now that you mention it, yeah. There was this . . . thing on top of her."

"What'd it look like?" Kid and Harry asked at the same time.

Heather shook her head. "It was dark. Like, really dark."

"Damn." Kid shook his head. "So we don't know what it looks like."

"No, that's what I'm saying. The thing, whatever it was, kind of looked like a cross between a human and a dog. But it was _dark_. The skin was almost black. And dripping like it was wet or something. It was probably the creepiest thing I've ever seen."

"Are you sure you saw what you think you saw?" Hermione slipped an arm around her shivering friend. "You seem kind of worked up, Heather."

"It was real, I swear." Her hazel-green eyes were wide in her pale face. "I promise. That thing was for real. It tore down the curtain!" She pointed to the – perfectly flawless – divider curtain and her finger fell to her side. "HUH!?"

Hermione flashed Soul an apologetic look, patting her friend on the shoulder. "There, there, Heather. Let's go see if the Great Hall is still open. Maybe we can get you some tea."

"But it was torn! I swear it! And it burned her! Burned black marks all over her skin! It was real! I promise!" Heather and Hermione walked slowly out of the wing with several anxious glanced backwards.

"Well." Harry rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "That was quite a scare for nothing."

"Sorry, shark-tooth." Ron clapped Soul on the shoulder. "Maybe she'll wake up by tomorrow."

"Uh, guys." Fred and George held the Extendable Ear between them. It shook in their hands and Soul faintly heard Seamus's voice screeching in the background. "We'd better clear out of here quickly. Umbridge is on the prowl."

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you all to leave now," Madame Pompfrey bustled towards them with her hands permanently glued to her hips. "This poor girl needs more rest and she's not going to find any with you lot hanging around."

Tsubaki frowned. "But we just got here."

"Shoo!" Madame Pompfrey pointed to the door. "Get some sleep."

"I'm staying." Soul pulled a chair next to Maka and lowered the iron grate on his side of the bed. He slouched and slipped his hands into his pockets, glaring icily at Madame Pompfrey. "And you can't make me leave."

The nurse's withered face exploded into flames. "Young man! I'll have you know I –!"

"Let him, Poppy." Dumbledore gently rested his hand on Madame Pompfrey shoulders. "He's a determined one. Won't go without a fight." He rested his dimmed gaze on Soul. "You can stay a little while longer, Soul Eater. Then I will personally escort you to the Slytherin common room."

Soul nodded. "Thanks, old ma– er. I mean, Professor."

A slight sparkled returned to the old man's eyes. "Very well." He turned towards the rest of the students. "I will see you all in class tomorrow."

They departed with a few wary looks at Maka and Soul. Kid lingered the longest, dividing his glances between Maka and the wizened, old Professor. Dumbledore followed the young reaper with his eyes long after Kid had left through the arching double doors.

_They're up to something_. Soul's gut twisted uncomfortably. _Does it have anything to do with Maka seeing the black blood?_

He glanced down at his sleeping meister and sighed wearily. "What did you see, Maka?" he muttered, resting his hand on her interlaced fingers. "Tell me."

He repeated his worried words over and over, bending so his forehead rested against hers. Her lashes fluttered gently against his, little butterfly kisses on his cheeks. The ache of his scar was nothing compared to the pain in his heart when his mind replayed what had happened when they'd hovered in the sky above the Quidditch pitch. He wished he could take it all away from her, absorb all her pain, but she'd never let him. She was too damn stubborn.

It was going to get her killed someday.

"Maka," he whispered, closing his red eyes against her forehead.

**Maka**

Pretending to be asleep was much harder than Maka had thought it was going to be. Her friend's worried voices drifted above hers and she caught a few words here and there, but mostly she tried hard not to listen.

"Laughing." Hermione's friend, Heather, spoke above her. Her voice was clearer than all the rest. "Dark. Dog-human thing."

She drove an iron rod through Maka's chest with every word she spoke. _It was real_. Maka struggled to maintain steady, even breaths. _That thing, it was real._ The pain in her chest should've been enough to tell her that, but Heather's proof as an eyewitness was almost hard for Maka to bear. She wanted to write it off as nonsense like Professor Dumbledore had told her it was, but just like that time she met Crona in Italy, something in her gut was screaming at her. _DON'T IGNORE THIS!_ It shouted. _YOU CAN'T IGNORE IT! YOU NEED TO FIND OUT WHAT'S GOING ON!_

She'd survived her friends' conversation, but she almost lost it when Soul fell asleep on top of her. She'd struggled a little when he'd rested her forehead on hers, but when his breathing deepened and he fell into sleep, she almost gave up the charade and shoved him off of her. His arms rested against her stomach and his hands made little fists in the hospital nightgown draped over her body. His nose slid down the side of her face and her neck, finding a little hollow along her collarbone and resting there. He shifted, relaxing further against her so his spiky hair danced against her forehead.

_I'm so going to kill him for this_. Her hands were itching for a heavy book to hurl at him.

Gradually, his heavy weight became a warm one. His chest rising and falling against hers became so relaxing she could almost feel herself drifting towards sleep.

_No, Maka!_ She mentally slapped herself. _Stay focused. You have to –_

"Look at those two." Madame Pompfrey and Dumbledore spoke above the weapon-meister pair, not even trying to whisper. "Quite a pair, aren't they?"

"They are very different." Dumbledore croaked with weariness. "But so completely in resonance it's almost difficult to tell their souls apart."

"Do you think she'll tell him? About the . . . you know."

This was the conversation Maka had been waiting for.

Dumbledore took a breath before speaking. "It's hard to say. We may have convinced her it was all just a hallucination."

"And then again, maybe we didn't."

"There's a definite possibility she'll tell Soul Eater, but where is her proof? I doubt she'd tell her partner without some kind of proof to give to him."

"What about the black blood?" The nurse's voice dropped a fraction around the cursed words. "How will it affect her?"

"She's very resilient." Dumbledore sighed. "Even so, I have no idea what it will do to her."

"Her partner's already been exposed, hasn't he?"

"He has some inside himself. But by the sheer force of his will, he can prevent it from spreading to his partner when they resonant."

"That's incredible."

"It's not foolproof. She can still take on the black blood from time to time, but it always slinks out of her system and back into him when they're done resonating."

"So do you think . . .?" Her voice trailed off in an eerie whisper.

But Dumbledore knew exactly what the old nurse was too afraid to say. "Yes, I imagine so. The next time they resonant, Soul Eater will absorb the black blood that has found its way into Maka's system."

Madame Pompfrey sounded like she wanted to gasp. But there was no surprise in her voice. "What about him?"

Their voices faded away, but Maka caught the end of Dumbledore's last words. "He is the wild card. I'm surprised he's managed to be here at all among all the black blood we have here. He may go crazy, he may not. It all depends on him."

Maka's eyes fluttered open. Her breath quickened and Soul stirred on her chest. _What do I do?_ Her thoughts were consumed by fear. _The black blood is here! How do I protect Soul?_

An ache spread from the center of her chest, out towards her limbs. It wasn't painful, exactly. Just a vague, odd sort of hurt that came from nowhere and everywhere at once.

_We can't resonate._ A crystal-clear thought pierced the worried veil of Maka's thoughts_. I can't let him resonate with me. I won't let the black blood get to him._ She relaxed slowly, cementing her resolve on a shaky foundation. _I won't_.

She fell into unconscious as Soul startled into it, her futile resolve strong even in her sleep.

**Soul**

Minutes or hours later, he woke with his nose pressed against Maka's collarbone. He blinked rapidly, tracing the view of her bare skin with his eyes several times before he realized what it was.

"WHA-!" He jerked himself up into a sitting position, dragging the front of her billowy hospital gown further down on her chest. "OH MY GOD!"

His hands, which had been gently resting against her stomach, were fisted around the material of her gown. They were stiff with sleep and he had a hard time forcing them to let of the gown. It took several minutes of flustered work to release the sheet and massage some blood back into his hands.

"Not cool," he muttered, checking Maka's flickering eyelids to make sure she hadn't woken. "Not cool at all. She'd kill me if she knew . . ." His head ached from the imagined Maka Chop that he would have received if she had been awake.

He started to stand, eager to get away and forget this whole incident when something along Maka's breastbone caught his attention. Just to the left of the hard bone, right above her heart, was a burned black scar, about the size of his fist. He bent closer, examining the ring-shaped burn mark, gently prodding the scarred skin. As he watched, the black color of the scar sunk into her skin, disappearing from sight.

"She absorbed it," he muttered blinking rapidly and rubbing his eyes to clear the sleep from them.

_That can't be good._


	12. Everybody Hates Kid

I'M SO SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT! I REALLY DIDN'T PLAN FOR IT TO BE THAT LONG! I don't know, you know how it is. One thing leads to another then you're just crazed for time. Well, long story short, I got all of my summer hw done (I hope) so I should be good to go to write more often and update more frequently. This'll be the first to update with FF following not far behind. (Next chap to update will probs be FF, so look forward to that!) Anyway, on with the show. Hope you like and, as always, tell me what you think :)

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Lies and Trepidation (How Kid became Undesirable No.1 of Hogwarts)

**Maka**

A guide to avoiding your problems. By Maka Albarn.

Step One: Deny the undeniable.

Maka spent the entire day pretending that the nightmare of the previous night had melted away into her unconsciousness. She traced harmless patterns like roses and daises on the ceiling with her eyes, watching Madame Pompfrey move back and forth behind the dividing curtain. She was falling right into Dumbledore's well-thought out trap. But she couldn't help but see the reason in denying the black-blooded nightmare that had sprung from Tristian's unconscious body.

Step Two: Eat.

She munched her way through four more chocolate frogs, five fizzy wizzies, and nearly ten fudge flies. She found a few chocolate wands on her table after noon and ate those too. At the end of the day, Maka was pleasantly full. But her mind was still ill at ease.

Step Three: Sleep.

Whenever Soul came to visit, Maka fell deep into faux unconsciousness. Whenever the ache of the black blood spread outwards from her chest, she silenced it by closing her eyelids. Whenever Kid or Harry came around, prodding her and telling her to wake up, she let herself fall towards the darkness beneath her eyelids.

It was exhausting.

She was caught at the end of the day by Heather Bennett, of all people, tip-toing towards her bed with Luna Lovegood following behind.

"She's awake." Luna peered at Maka's face with her head cocked and one eye narrowed to a slit. "I'm sure of it. I know how to fake sleep. It's quite easy, you know. But terribly tiring."

Maka pried one eyelid open, peering at the young blonde. "Good thing you weren't here earlier," she mumbled, sitting up half-way. "You'd have ruined all my hard day's work."

"You didn't need me before." Luna nodded, pushing some of her blonde hair behind her ears. A turnip dangled from each one and Maka had to resist the urge to giggle madly. "I'm very good at coming when I'm needed." Her voice was slight and small, but eerily prophetic. It contained an alluring quality of natural kindness within its easy rhythm.

"There's something I need to tell you, Maka." Heather spread her Ravenclaw robes out behind her, fiddling with the blue tie hung around her neck. "And please, _please_ don't tell me I'm crazy."

"I know what you're going to say." Maka's eyes darted to the divider curtain. Madame Pompfrey's shadow was a dark ring on the cloth wall.

Maka looked back to the two Hogwarts students and lowered her voice. "The nurse and Professor Dumbledore tried to tell me it was all a dream. But I know they were wrong." She locked eyes with Heather. "You were right. It was real. It all really happened." Her eyes slipped shut in a weary sigh. "The demon thing. The burns on my skin. As crazy as that all sounds, it was true."

The girl flew at Maka with everything she had, locking her arms around the petite girl's neck. "Oh thank you, Maka!" She sniffed into the meister's ashy blonde hair. "Thank you, so much! I knew I wasn't crazy!"

"There, there, Heater." Luna gently pried her friend away from Maka. "Don't hurt her with your enthusiasm. She's still got a pretty bad bruise on the back of her neck."

"It's better now." Maka's made little fists in the cloth of the hospital bed. "Doesn't hurt as much."

Luna turned her head to the side and gave her an odd look, blinking slowly at the young girl. "Uh huh."

Maka looked away. "I'm sorry for all the secrecy. I just . . . I couldn't bear facing Soul right now. After what I did . . . what I saw . . ." She trailed off and looked down.

"Where's your courage, Maka?" Luna rested her hand on the meister's head. "Soul seems to think you have a lot. He talks about you all the time, you know."

"Yeah." A curvy smile curled Heather's lips up. "He said you two live together." Her voice was full of implication.

Maka's cheeks heated. "IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!"

Heather giggled. "Sure it's not."

"I know you've got a lot on your plate, but Soul needs you now. He's gone almost three days without you. I think that's more than even he can handle." The candle by Maka's bedside lit Luna's hair in a glowing yellow halo. Her calm face was full of knowledge and her eyes sparkled with the glow of Maka's secrets.

"You're right." Maka hung her head. "I'm being foolish." _But I can't resonate with him. Remember that, Maka. Remember that. _

"It's okay." Luna stepped away from the candle and her angel's face returned to normal. "Soul will forgive you."

"Do you . . ." she looked down. "Do you know where I could find him? I need to apologize and . . ." She swung her legs over the side of the hospital bed, kicking them back and forth over the side. "Well, let's start with an apology."

"We'll show you." Heather's smile was almost too big for her face. "But first we need to get you out of that hospital gown and into some real clothes."

Luna cocked her head to the side. "It makes your chest look very small, you know."

**Soul**

Around him, the DA were practicing spells like they were preparing for war. Blue and red light flashed above his head mixed with some wicked gold sparkles and a few silver twinkles. He linked his arms behind his head and let the spells fly over him, listening to Harry shout praises and give instruction. He closed his eyes and let the light of the cast spells dance behind his eyelids, tracing patterns in the light's after-image with his eyes.

"You okay, shark-tooth?" Ron collapsed beside his friend, slipping his wand into his front pocket.

Soul rolled one ruby eye towards the ginger wizard. "Shouldn't you be practicing?"

Ron cringed and rubbed his shoulder with the palm of his hand. "Fred got me good with a Stupefy spell a few minutes ago." He turned his head from side to side, glaring at his chuckling brother. "I'm still working off the effects."

Soul grunted and his eyes slipped shut again.

"Really, mate. How are you?" Ron leaned in, tapping the young weapon's forehead. "'Cause you don't look so good."

Soul's hand rested gently on his scar. He twirled the black tie around his finger, tapping the scar absently with the back of his hand. "I'm fine."

"Uh huh." Ron tapped Soul's interlaced fingers. "You say that a lot, you know."

Soul blinked at him.

"Especially when you touch that scar." The ginger's eyes were wide and sincere.

Soul sighed heavily. "Who told you?"

"Kid." Ron rolled his shoulders gently. "He may be a neurotic mess, but he really cares for you guys. But don't worry, he only told me, Hermione, and Harry. Harry would've said something earlier, but he's too kind to bring it up."

Soul snorted. "And you're not?"

The ginger grinned. "Nope."

"It could be worse," Ron said after a lengthy pause. "He could've told the whole school.

Soul sat up and eyed the young reaper warily. "Yeah. Then I'd have Malfoy on my ass again."

"Do you get the feeling Kid and Dumbledore are up to something?" Ron lowered his voice and spoke directly into Soul's ear.

Soul nodded slowly. "Yeah. There's something going on between those two."

"I didn't notice it myself; Harry and Hermione mentioned it to me earlier when we first visited Maka. But now that they mentioned it . . ." his voice trailed off and he shrugged lightly.

"Yeah." Soul rubbed the back of his neck. "It's hard to ignore."

"We'll keep an eye on him." Ron bumped the weapon's shoulder with his fist. "Don't worry about it. Harry, Hermione, and I – we're used to sticking our noses in places where it doesn't belong."

Soul chuckled lowly. "You're my kind of guy, Ron."

The two fist-bumped. "I'm here for ya, shark-tooth. Don't forget it."

"You're pretty cool, Ron Weasley." Soul muttered, watching the ginger rejoin the DA's imaginary battlefront. "For a wizard."

"Hey, Soul!" Ginny jumped in front of him, eyes ablaze with excitement. "Look who it is!" She pointed to the room's wooden doors, slowly swinging inward.

The DA stopped firing and all turned to watch Heather and Luna steal in through the door's slight opening. Behind them, clad in silver and blue robes two sizes too big for her, was Soul's meister, Maka Albarn. She blinked wildly, fiddling with the long sleeves of the robes she was in. Her green eyes filled with the room's cool blue reflection as they widened in surprise. She turned in a circle, spinning to see the room in its entirety. Her mouth opened in a loose O.

"Whoa," she breathed, turning towards Heather and Luna as the doors swung shut. "This place is amaz–" Her eyes alighted on the crowd of witches and wizards gathered before her and her voice trailed away into nothing.

Soul stood, slipping his hands uncomfortably into his pockets. Behind him, a few people – probably the twins and their idiot friend, Lee Jordan – whistled lowly, chuckling under their breath. Maka's cheeks heated, but when her gaze found Soul's the blush dropped away. Delight – and something close to fear – spread behind her pupils and Soul frowned self-consciously.

He rested his hand on his chest, tapping his fingers lightly across the fabric of his Spartoi shirt. The ache in his scar worsened as Maka inched closer to him and he scowled. He'd expected some sort of relief, knowing that his meister was awake and safe. But instead, it only caused him more pain.

He shoved down the pain and strode towards his meister. She blinked and the fear intensified, but he pushed forward, only stopping when his hands were resting lightly on her shoulders and his gaze was level with hers. He ignored the DA's eyes on his back and inspected his meister quickly, searching for any sign of damage – other than the wound on her head.

"Are you alright?" His voice was low, rough with the anxiety he'd held in check while she was away. "Maka?"

"I'm fine." She blinked and the fear behind her eyes eased a fraction.

Soul ran his hand over the back of her neck, feeling the rough, partially healed skin there. "Really?" He craned his neck to inspect the damaged area. "You're fine?" It wasn't bleeding anymore and there wasn't a bandage to hide the exposed skin, but overall it didn't look much better than it had before. The skin was still scraped raw and the back of her neck was still one giant bruise. "Yeah right."

"Soul." Maka's voice quivered.

He stopped his inspection, glancing down at her face. "Yeah?"

"I'm sorry." Her arms locked around his neck and she propelled herself up onto her tiptoes, hugging him tightly. "I'm so sorry." There was a small sob in her voice and Soul's eyes widened behind her back.

It took him a few seconds to hug her back, but when he did relief like he'd never felt before coursed through his body, masking the pain of his scar. He slipped one arm around her middle and squeezed gently, slipping the other up underneath her hair to gently support her aching neck.

"It's alright," he murmured into her ear. "Really, Maka. It's alright."

"I knew it was you." She was shivering in his arms, barely keeping herself upright. "I knew it. I'm sorry. It was the demon imp. He had your face and I . . ." She buried her face in his shoulder.

"Maka." He gently pushed her face back and locked eyes with her. "What are you talking about?"

She blinked rapidly and her green eyes sparkled with unshed tears. "I . . . I pushed you away." She cleared her throat and unlaced one hand to run it across her eyes, wiping away her tears. "In the Hospital Ward. I made you sad. I'm so, so sor-"

"Maka." He shook her lightly, hands tightening around her thin shoulders. "It's. Fine."

"No, it's not." She shook her head roughly. "You're my partner and I –"

Soul sighed and shook his head, gently bringing her back into his arms. "You idiot. Always overthinking everything."

She shook lightly, gripping the back of his t-shirt with her fists. "Sorry," she breathed, sniffling slightly. "I'm so sorry."

"Just _what_ _are_ you apologizing for Maka?" A twinge of suspicion tugged at Soul's gut. He held her away from him, tipping her chin up to better inspect the curiously fearful gleam in her eyes.

Her chin trembled and tears gathered at the corners of his eyes. This wasn't Maka. She never cried (she never let him _see_ her cry). To see his meister so weak and broken rattled Soul's few remaining nerves.

"Umm." Maka slid her hands behind her back, twisting her fingers into knots. "You see . . . back at the hospital . . . ah. Uh, well. We, um." She cleared her throat. "Here's the thing. We can't –"

"Hey, Soul!" Black Star bounded towards the weapon-meister pair with his arms extended. "Leave some Maka for the rest of us, will ya!"

Before Soul had time to protest, he was shoved out of the way and Maka was swept up into Black Star's arms. She cringed and pounded at his arms with weak, tiny fists as Black Star swung her around in a large circle.

"YAHOO!" he crowed.

"Lemmego,Black Star!You'resoannoyingIhateyou!" She grumbled in his arms.

"Welcome back, Maka!" Tsubaki and the girls crowded around Maka with huge smiles on their faces.

"Did you like my chocolate frogs?" Ginny elbowed the young meister with a knowing grin. "Scared you, didn't it?"

"Haha, yeah!" Maka's face creased into a weary smile. "I really wasn't expecting it to hop around like that."

"Are you alright, Maka?" Tsubaki gingerly touched her friend's elbow. "You look a little pale."

"Yo, Maka." Kid gently shoved Tsubaki out of the way. "Nice to have you back." He stacked his fist on Maka's flashing a small, symmetrical smile. "Things have been pretty crazy without you around."

"Crazy is an understatement." Fred and George sidled up to Heater, elbowing the blushing Ravenclaw with crooked grins. "Heather, here, ran in saying you had been attacked by some monster." They rolled their eyes in unison.

"Actually, Heather was telling the truth." Luna clasped her arms behind her back and rocked forward on her toes. Her gaze slid towards the ashy blonde meister. "Right, Maka?"

Silence filled the room.

Outside, cold winter wind whistled against the aged glass panes of the Room of Requirement. Inside, the air grew deathly still.

All eyes zeroed in on the shivering Gryffindor newbie, trying to stand tall at her weapon's side.

"Maka?" Soul eyed her with round, ruby orbs.

Maka swallowed hard and Soul watched as her trademark brand of extra-strength courage slid behind her emerald eyes. She straightened her spine, gently rubbing a hand along the healing wound on the back of her neck.

"It's true."

Her voice was a drop in the still pond of the DA students.

"What?"

"No way."

"Seriously, Maka? Are you alright?"

"Was it a demon dog? Like Heather said!"

"You're lucky to be alive!"

The room erupted into chaos, centered on the young meister. After a minute or two of scattered talk aimed in Maka's direction, Soul hooked his meister by the elbow and drew her aside. He didn't stop until they were behind one of the arching pillars of the Room of Requirement, partially hidden from the crowd of gossip-crazed witches and wizards.

"Really, Maka?" He scruffed a hand through his hair, noting the faint tremors running along his meister's side. He bent so only she could hear him. "Is it true? Were you attacked by a . . .?" He couldn't finish his own question.

She nodded slowly, blinking up at him with wide, green eyes.

Soul slid his hands into his pockets, stiffening his spine for his meister's benefit. "Tell me everything."

She opened her mouth to do just that.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Kid's voice rose above the discord, silencing the mixed sounds of their voices. "MAKA!" he barked.

"Yeah?" Maka and Soul poked their heads around the half-beam pillar.

"You're trying to tell me." Kid slipped his hands onto his pockets, propping his elbows at an angle perfectly symmetrical on both sides. "That Heather's crazy story." He gestured to the offending girl and she shrunk back into Fred and George's sides, blushing furiously. "Is actually true?" He levelled his yellow-eyes at the blonde meister. "I don't buy it."

Soul blinked and Maka's mouth fell open. "_What?_"

Even Liz and Patty looked distraught at their meister's blatant disbelief.

"What's up, Kid?" Liz poked the young reaper in the side. "Why would Maka lie? Would reason would she have for making up such a thing?"

"Yeah, Kid! What's wrong, what's wrong, what's wrong!" Patty clung to his shoulder, shaking it roughly. Her happy face was tipped down in a wide frown.

"I don't believe it." Kid's lids slipped to shield his yellow eyes. His voice dropped lower and a drop of shame colored his tone. "I think she's lying."

"WHAT!?"

If things had been crazy before, they were nothing compared to what the room was like now.

"WHAT THE HELL'S WRONG WITH YOU!" Liz attacked her meister with heeled boots, kicking at his shins with smoke spurting from his ears. "YOU TRYING TO MAKE HER LOOK BAD! YOU SHOULD JUST FESS UP, YOU SCUMBAG!"

"What're you doing, Kid!?" Black Star's eyes glinted with furious light. He cracked his knuckles menacingly. "Trying to steal to the show away from Maka, huh? Well, I'm the alone one who's allowed to do that!"

Tsubaki covered one hand over her mouth and grabbed her meister's collar with the other, holding him back from running at the young reaper with all the force he had. "I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO'S ALLOWED TO DO THAT! ME! THE GREAT BLACK STAR! I'M THE ONE WHO WILL SURPASS GOD!"

"_We know_." The room chorused with rolled eyes.

Soul's temper boiled. A vein throbbed at his temples as he watched his meister's face fall in the most magnificent way. Her thoughts danced across her face in slow motion, slow enough for him to read them (and everyone in the room who cared to look).

She'd expected Kid to listen. She'd expected everyone to listen – and why wouldn't they? They were her friends, right? They had enough faith in her to believe her tale.

But now, because of Kid's three small words, there would always be a twinge of doubt in the back of their minds.

And that.

Killed her.

A thin, reedy giggle leaked from Maka's mouth, searing the scar on Soul's chest.

That enough was proof for him.

Soul bared his pointy teeth at the reaper. "What's wrong with you, Kid?" he asked quietly, resting a hand on his scar. The room settled quickly around the cool anger lodged in Soul's words. "You've been acting funny ever since we came here."

Kid shrugged, turning his face to the side. "No, I haven't."

"What's your deal?" Soul asked coolly, curling his hands into fists at his sides.

"I'm fine." Kid looked pointedly at Maka, cupping a hand to silence a small fit of giggles. "But she's not."

The room surged as all the oxygen was drawn out of the air, and into the lungs of the DA students in a general gasp.

Soul slid his gaze towards Ron, Harry, and Hermione. They met his eyes with scary confidence, dipping their heads in a slight nod.

"Whatever, man." Soul slipped an arm around Maka's middle, hoisting her up onto her feet.

He turned his back on the young reaper and addressed Ron and Harry directly. "I'm going to drop by Madame Pompfrey with Maka and make sure she's fit for class tomorrow."

"I'll come with you." Black Star slid Kid a black glare.

"Nah, it's cool." Soul hooked Maka's arms around his shoulders and moved towards the doors with her in tow. "I've got this." _Stay here and watch Kid for me._

Black Star understood Soul's silent command and slid behind the reaper's son with his arms crossed menacingly over his chest. The room fell into deathly silence as the DA's gathered eyes fell on Kid and Maka.

Kid, stony-faced and silent, watched the pair limp off with more than a note of regret burning in his eyes.

Maka, giggling lightly and smiling widely, cried tears of frustration as the black blood she'd absorbed settled into all corners of her soul.

Behind Soul and Maka, the DA resumed their lessons, firing shots with deadly accuracy at a dummy mounted on the wall.

When the smoke cleared, Kid blinked at the scorch marks they'd left behind. They resembled the shape of a lopsided skull with a hairline crack down the middle.


	13. The Kiss of Death

Yo! Sorry for the delay, but here's the new chapter! This one's kind of short compared to the other ones, but I'll update soon (hopefully) to make up for it.  
**DISCLAIMER/SPOILER**: There's a bit of KidxMaka in this, but its really just to move the story along _this story is completely SoulxMaka_. I'll say it again: **THIS STORY IS SOULXMAKA** so don't send me hate/freak out after this chapter. Okay. Moving on. Hope you like and tell me what you think :)

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The Kiss of Death

**Death the Kid**

"You're going to pay for that, you know." Liz's words, although completely true, were still hard for Kid to bear.

"I know, Liz," he snapped, holding out his hand towards her. His board was already at his feet, ready to fly. "Can you just transform already? It's time we go looking for this thing."

"Why?" Liz turned away, placing her hand on her hip. "Professor Dumbledore said it escaped. I don't think we'll be able to find it in these woods." She gestured to the Forbidden Forest spread out beneath them like a dark carpet.  
"It's dark, Kid." Patty poked the reaper in the side, pointing to the leering moon. "And he's not very bright."

Liz's face paled. "Now that you mention it, it is pretty dark . . ."

"We'll be fine." Kid was getting impatience. "Now, come on. I can't jump from the seventh floor with you two as humans. My board can only hold my weight, not yours too."

Liz narrowed her eyes at her meister, flipping her blonde hair back behind her shoulder. "You trying to say something, Kid?"

"Why are you after this thing anyway?" Patty shielded her eyes with her hand, leaning forward over the seventh floor balcony and scanning the tree line of the shadowy forest. "You seem almost desperate to catch it. It's not like you."

"It hurt my friend." Kid's voice was deadly.

Liz and Patty shared a look over the reaper's head.

He bent over his skateboard as his weapons finally transformed, flashing pink before leaping high into the sky. He caught them, resting his pinkies gently on their triggers and crossing his arms over his chest. His lids dropped to shield his burning yellow eyes as the shame of lying to Maka spread over his whole being.

Liz flashed in his palm and her face peered out from the shiny metal of the gun's barrel. "You're right." Her eyes were narrowed in concentration. "That thing did hurt her."

"But you're the one who lied to her." Patty was uncharacteristically calm. Her face blinked up at Kid's with the scary concentration born of her life on the streets. "You'll have to remember that before this is all over."

"Just a little longer," Kid breathed, pushing himself off the stony balcony of the Hogwarts School. He plummeted into the open air, letting the wind brush his face, blowing his bangs back from his eyes. "Then this nightmare will be over."

**Maka**

"Maka." Harry poked her arm incessantly, tapping his fingers against her pale skin. "Maka. Maka. Maka."

She sneezed, burying her face deeper into the cradle of her arms. "Go. Away." She groaned.

"I told you to bring a jacket," Hermione said primly, smiling to ease the smart-aleck bite in her words.

"And I didn't know it was so cold in this stupid school." Maka sneezed again, shivering all down the length of her spine.

Ron grinned, scrubbing a hand through his ginger hair. "It's winter. What'd you expect?"

"I don't know." Maka thought longingly of the warm winters of her desert home, Death City. "Not this."

"Cold weather doesn't affect me!" Black Star puffed his chest up, standing on top of his desk with his hands propped on his hips. "I'm the great Black Star! I will surpass God someday."

"_We know."_

"Here they come, Maka." Patty looped her arm around Maka's shoulder, shaking with giggles. "Soul brought you a jacket."

"How sweet." Maka sniffed, rubbing her frozen nose.

"You look like crap Maka." Soul grinned, draping his old varsity-style jacket over her shoulders. "Tsubaki wasn't kidding."

"Hey." She poked him in the side, curling gratefully into his worn jacket. "I just got out of the hospital, you know."

Soul's grin fell away. "Hmm."

"Come on guys, get settled." Tsubaki dragged her meister off his desk and forcibly sat him down in his seat. "Here comes the teacher."

"Oh great," Liz mumbled, propping her chin on her hands. "It's this crazy lady again."

"Good morning, class." Professor Umbridge stepped lightly down the stairs, smiling like a frog about to reel in a fly with its tongue.

"Good morning, Professor Umbridge." The class's answering chorus was less than enthusiastic.

"Today we're going to start a new chapter entitled Twenty-One Ways to . . ."

Her voice drifted away from Maka's ears as the young meister laced her fingers together, trying to pump some blood back into them. Maka bent her head, inspecting her bloodless nails with a careful eye.

Beside her, Soul rested his chin on his elbow, tucking his head down into his arms. Harry was playing with his wand beneath the table showing Neville – who sat across from him watching his every movement – a new trick they'd learned in the Room of Requirement the other day. Seamus and Black Star were passing furious notes, arguing about something, no doubt. And Tsubaki was having a quiet conversation with Liz and Patty behind their books.

All around her, life was moving on. The students were thriving. Their souls were happy and pleased, filling the room with their energy. Even Professor Umbridge, prim and proper at the front of the room, was happy – she _actually believed_ she was doing good for her students, and so, that made her happy.

But Maka, who continued to pick and chip away at the fragile lines of her nails, was frozen. Her soul was caught, held in place by the web of the black blood that had infected her. She could feel it, winding through her body, slowing down her movements, holding her back from a life full of freedom and enjoyment.

Was this how Soul's experience had been? Was this how Soul dealt with the black blood? Was Maka going to start seeing a demon imp of her own? No, no, no. She couldn't. She couldn't . . . deal with the black blood or the black room or the demon imp. She had to give it to Soul. She had to make sure he took her black blood. She couldn't handle it anymore. She couldn't . . .

_SHUT UP!_

Bright red blood pooled under her nail, dripping onto the floor by her combat boots.

"Excuse me!"

Maka's head jerked up.

A ruler was thrust under her chin, keeping her face tilted towards the ceiling. At the end of the ruler, Professor Umbridge was glaring, narrowing her bulgy, frog eyes at the thin meister with disgust. "And just who are you, young lady?" Her painted pink lip curled to reveal sinisterly straight rows of white teeth.

"Hey, what's the big ide–!" Soul reached for the ruler, but Professor Umbridge swatted his hand away.

"I'm not talking to you, Mr. Eater, am I?" The pink lady snarled sweetly.

Maka blinked. "_Mr. Eater_?" she giggled, cupping her hand over her mouth.

Soul groaned and put his head down on the wooden table. "Totally uncool."

"Are you Miss . . ." she tapped a pink fingernail against a clipboard tucked under her arm. "_Albarn_." Her mouth stretched over the unfamiliar name, turning it into four separate syllables.

Maka nodded, stiffing her giggles. "Yes, ma'am."

"My, my, how polite." The pink professor checked something on her clipboard. "Unlike your partner here."

Soul bared his teeth at her in a poor imitation of a grin.

"Would you care to explain your absence for the past three days, Miss Albarn?" Umbridge's voice stepped over the boundary of polite student-teacher conversation and into the realm of prying for secrets.

"I was in the hospital." She slid her gaze towards Soul's, searching for help. "I took a Bludger to the back of the head and I –"

"Interesting . . ." The professor nodded sharply, tapping her pen against her clipboard. A door opened at the back of the classroom with a noisy clang. Umbridge glanced over her shoulder with a menacing glare, piercing the latecomer with heavily shadowed pink eyes. "And what about you, Mr. Kid?"

Maka whirled around so fast the bruise on the back of her neck began to throb. Soul turned around too, slowly hooking his arm around his chair and turning half his body.

The young reaper trudged in slowly, tugging at the sleeves of his suit. His hair was messy and disheveled – the first sign that something was wrong – and there were heavy bags traced under his eyes. The skull on his tie was lopsided and no amount of tugging on Kid's part appeared to affect its asymmetrical tilt.

Maka's furious rage diminished as he took a seat behind her, dropping his head onto his arms. Even Soul, coolly burning with hatred, let up, tapping the young reaper on the arm.

"Yo, Kid." Soul prodded the meister with the tip of his finger. "What's up?"

"What's wrong with you, Kid?" Black Star took a seat beside his friend. His manic smile slipped and fell from his face as Kid's head sank lower between his arms. "Hey, you alright?"

Liz and Patty sighed heavily, sinking deeper into their chairs with their faces covered.

"Excuse me!" Professor Umbridge tapped her ruler against the side of her clipboard to silence the cloud of chatter drifting among the students. "Class is still in session!" She poked Kid's arm with the tip of her ruler, scowling heavily with her thickly painted mouth. "Mr. Kid! Sit up this instance! I would like to have a word with you."

"Maka." Kid slowly lifted his head towards the ashy blonde meister. "I'm sorry."

Maka blinked in surprise. "For last night?" She crossed her arms over her chest. "You should be."

"No." Kid shook his head sharply. "More than that. I'm sorry for . . ." he looked out the window and his heavy-lidded eyes flickered with emotion. "I'm just sorry."

"You can have your private conversations later." Umbridge's fists clenched at her sides.

"I wish you guys weren't here." Kid sighed and his cat's eyes slipped shut. His gaze flicked towards Black Star. "Both of you. It just makes everything ten times worse."

Umbridge's nostrils flared angrily as Kid continued to ignore her. "Mr. Kid –!"

"KID!" Liz stood up with her younger sister at her side. Her eyes flared with anger. "Don't do anything stupid.".

"Yeah, Kid." Patty propped her hands on her hips. "Don't be stupid."

"I can't help it!" Kid dropped his head into his hands, clenching at his hair. "I'm the one who got her into this mess, and I have to be the one to get her out!"

Soul glanced at Maka nervously. "Kid, we signed up for this mission. We knew coming here would be dangerous. And besides, Maka's not hurt too badly. Right, Maka?" His uncertain eyes slid towards his half-crazed meister.

The black blood was rising in her throat in the form of a sinister giggle. Kid's face stared forlornly up at hers, igniting that twinge of evil resting in the crack of her soul. She tried to repress it, tried everything to keep it from coming out, but there was no holding it back.

If this was what it was going to be like,

If this was the black blood she would have to struggle with every single day,

If this was what she had to keep from Soul,

She really would go mad.

As mad as Crona.

Or maybe . . .

Even worse.

The giggle was at her lips. It tasted like black licorice; sweet with a bitter, tangy aftertaste. It rose in her throat like bile, pooling in the cavity of her mouth and turning her cheeks black. Soul watched in horrified awe as the veins along Maka's neck and mouth flashed darkly beneath her pale skin.

Everything happened at once. Umbridge, Soul, and Harry all voiced their concerns at the same time Kid leaned forward, clasping his palms around Maka's black cheeks.

"EXCUSE ME!"

"Maka?"

"What's wrong with her? Is she –?"

"I'll fix it, Maka." Kid was the closest to her; his face was all she could see. "You'll be fine now. I promise."

"NO, KID!" Liz fisted her meister's collar and tried to jerk him back, but it was too late.

Kid kissed Maka, parting her lips softly with his hands resting gently on her cheekbones.


	14. Maka's Tattoo

MAN, I am really horrible at updating. I apologize soooo much! Anyway, this is the next chapter, it's not of the best quality and its kind of confusing but I really wanted to get it out there since it took so long for me to update. Hopefully, I'll be able to post the next chapter sometime today so that'll be cool! Hope you guys like this and please tell me what you think! :)

P.S. My headcannon of Maka is she's like an ultra feminist since her dad was a crazy playboy, so you get to see a bit of that in this chapter when Umbridge (as usual) is being a total nutcase. Kay. Have fun with that!

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Maka's Tattoo

**Maka**

The space between them was wide enough to engulf the Arctic Ocean.

. . . .

And it still wasn't wide enough.

"Maka."

Maka kept her gaze forward. In front of her, a pile of kittens squirmed back and forth within a shallow bowl. A pink bow tied across the top drew the kittens' attention. They pressed upon the edges of the plate's boundary, reaching for the bow with sharp clawed paws.

"Maka, please."

She focused her gaze quite seriously on the horrid color splashed across the walls. And dotted all over the floor. And draped across every piece of furniture available. _Pink _is_ a very girly color_, Maka thought. _Nice in moderation, but nauseating in large quantities. _Maka imagined that the Professor had used up an entire year's supply to paint her room in the color.

"Maka, please. Look at me."

Her stomach rolled uncomfortably.

"Please."

The kittens were just beginning to realize that they'd never touch the pink bow on the edge of their plate.

"Maka!"

Their mewling cries were pitiful to listen to.

"I'm sorry." Kid dropped his face into his hands. "I'm so sorry."

Maka finally snapped.

"You should be," she said harshly. She didn't turn towards him, but the desk creaked with the tension of her bunching muscles.

"I didn't know what else to do." Kid's voice was muffled through his hands.

"What did you _do_?" she barked. "I can't feel the –" Her throat closed up with a sharp snap. "The –!" She balled her hands into fists and tried again. "_The –!"_

"I assume you both know why you are here." Umbridge stepped through the doorway with her pink clipboard tucked beneath her arm. She clicked her heels together and slammed the door behind herself, blocking out the several curious faces peering in through the doorway.

Kid hung his head in shameful recognition.

But Maka refused to bow her head.

"I didn't do anything wrong." Maka crossed her arms over her chest. "_He_ kissed _me_."

Umbridge gave Maka a sly look, crossing to her desk and sitting lightly upon the edge. "That may be the case." She slid the clipboard onto the top of her desk, folding her hands primly into her lap. "But surely, you _must have_ been asking for it."

Maka's mouth fell open.

"It's only natural, dear." Umbridge tilted her head in an odd smile. Her frog eyes crinkled at the corners, squashed and cold in the middle of her face. "You are an attractive young lady. You must have been doing something to elicit such a reaction from him." She gestured to Kid.

"What?" Maka could barely hear her own voice.

"I mean, look at what you're wearing, dear." She looked scathingly down at Maka's short Spartoi skirt and the long coat trailing behind her. She giggled, high and tight like a little girl. "You should really think more about what people will think of your outfit before you put it on in the morning."

"WHAT?!" Maka stood up from her chair. Kid raised his head in silent outrage, glaring hateful at the old-fashioned teacher. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? THIS WASN'T MY FAULT SO DON'T YOU DARE TRY TO PIN THIS ON ME!"

Umbridge's frog eyes grew unsettlingly wide. "Calm down, dear. I'm merely pointing out the obvious."

"DON'T BLAME THE VICTIM! EVEN IF I WAS SHIRTLESS AND WEARING A LACY BLACK BRA THAT DOESN'T MEAN I'M ASKING FOR IT! I'D EXPECTED BETTER FROM SOMEONE OF YOUR GOVERNMENT STANDING!" Maka sat down so hard the desk beneath her rattled. "It's never the victim's fault." Maka tilted her chin up. "So if you brought me in here to give me a lecture on dress code, save your breathe 'cause I won't listen to a word you say."

The tension in the room gave way to a hard, eerie silence. Even the kittens pawing around inside the plates were quiet. They blinked at Maka with wide, porcelain eyes.

"Well," Umbridge said after a moment, standing up abruptly. She brushed her hands down her dress, flicking away some imaginary dust – or the truth in Maka's lecture – before turning towards the door with an extreme frown. "I'm afraid you two have earned yourself a night of detention. I will inform your classmates that you will not be leaving with them today." She turned to them with a wide, froggy smile. "Instead, you will be spending the evening hours with me."

The kitten plates on the walls beside the doors rattled when Umbridge shut the door. Silence stretched between the two meisters, hard and cold. The kittens retreated back into their bowls, looking between the meisters with wary glances.

Finally, it was too much for Maka to take.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" Maka asked Kid when the vile, pink woman had gone. "Anything at all?"

Kid cleared his throat a few times, straightening the skull tie around his neck. "Umm . . . nice speech."

Maka cut him a hard glare. "_Anything else_?"

". . . I'm sorry?"

"What did you do to me?" Maka turned in her desk, facing Kid for the first time since they'd been shoved together into the small room.

Kid levelled his ringed yellow eyes directly at her. "I kissed you."

A vein throbbed near Maka's temple. "Besides that."

Something flickered behind Kid's eyes; a shadow that swooped and shuttered down across his pupils. "I'm protecting my friends, Maka."

"No, you're being stupid." Maka clenched her fists. "Besides, you don't have to worry about protecting me. I can take care of myself." She turned her head, and her pigtails whipped sharply against the side of her neck.

"Yes, but you can't take care of yourself _and Soul_ at the same time, can you?"

Maka turned her head so fast the back of her neck radiated pain all the way down her spine. "_What?_"

Kid leaned forward and the desk beneath him creaked loudly. "I know what happened last night. It was exactly what I'd hoped would never come to pass." The yellow in his eyes flickered brightly, and he turned away sharply, breathing hard. "I warned my father about it, before we left. I _told_ him not to put you guys on the mission. I told him . . ." Kid's hands clenched into painful fists.

"Kid." Maka worked to make her voice gentle. It was a struggle against the desperate curiosity rising within her, but she managed to smooth the roughness. A little. "What's going on? You can tell me."

He rested his head on the desktop, blinking one heavy yellow lid in her direction. "Can I?" He shook his head, looking away. "No. The demon's already got a taste of you. He'll come back for more."

Maka's breath was sharp. "What demon? You mean the thing from last night?"

"I went looking for it." Kid kept his face down, clawing at the wooden desktop table with white-knuckled fists. "Last night after the DA meeting. I wanted to make it pay for hurting you. I wanted to . . . Anyway, when I couldn't find it I devised a plan on how to get my revenge. How to show it that it couldn't hurt you – couldn't hurt anyone."

Maka eyed her friend warily. There was a ferocity, a bleak intensity in Kid's tone that she never liked to hear. It was something that only came out in small measures, like when the symmetry of her pigtails was off, or when Black Star cracked the perfect architecture of the DWMA.

But this . . . this was something else. The full force of it knocked the wind out of her and chilled the blood in her veins.

This was his reaper heritage. This was what he would look like if he was a true reaper (a shinigami – another name for a reaper, as Hermione had told her).

She didn't like it much.

Especially when the look on his face was frightening enough to scatter all the kittens from their plates. The coach cushions deflated like popped air balloons and the pink paint on the very walls around her seemed to lose their color. They dimmed and darkened until the room was nothing but a bleak reflection of itself.

"How –?" She swallowed harshly. "How'd you do that?"

Kid turned to her with a blank expression in his eyes. A white band circled around his forehead, glowing in the dimly lit room.

Maka bit her lip and sat on her hands, trying to blink the fear out of her eyes.

_He's your FRIEND!_ She screamed at herself. _He'd never hurt you!_

"I took his power away from him," Kid said simply, leaning back in his chair as far as it would allow him to go.

"His power?"

"His influence over you." Kid blinked one eye at Maka. She watched in horror as the other filled with dark liquid, like ink being poured into a glass water. The yellow was eclipsed by the darkness which quickly expanded, growing and filling out beneath Kid's skin. "I took it away from him. He can't hurt you anymore."

The black blood spread down Kid's face, trickling like a waterfall down his chin and across his collarbones. Maka's mouth tasted like iron, like fear, like pain and misery and death. Kid shifted in his chair, resting his chin on his palm and smiling at Maka. His grin shifted easily into a high chuckle that morphed into a spasmodic fit of giggles. The black blood continued to flow through the lines of face, spilling down his mouth and spreading through the cracks of his white teeth.

"What's wrong, Maka?" He asked. Black blood trickled from the corner of his mouth as he spoke, spilling down his blackened chin and dripping onto the wooden desk beneath his fingers. "You look troubled," he grinned.

"Miss Albarn?"

Kid's laugh was all Maka could hear.

"MISS ALBARN!"

Maka turned sharply, jerking her chin into Umbridge's meaty face. Both women recoiled and Kid stifled a fit of giggles, throwing his hands over his mouth.

"Are you feeling well, Miss Albarn?" Umbridge said stiffly, folding her meaty hand gently around her own thick cheek. "You look quite pale."

"I'm fine." Maka slid Kid a look out of the corner of her eye, but he wasn't looking at her. The side of his face was drenched in shadow, and the kittens on the plates by his head hadn't returned to their normal spots. "I don't know about Kid, though."

"He's quite alright." Umbridge didn't even spare him a glance. She waved her hand dismissively in his direction. "You may go, Mr. Kid as long as you promise: no more inappropriate conduct."

Kid nodded slowly at the same time Maka's jaw clenched tightly.

"So that's it?" Maka growled as Kid stood, slowing unfolding himself from the table's small confines. "He gets off with a warning while I'm stuck here."

"You and I still have some matters to attend to, Miss Albarn." Umbridge flashed another stiff smile in the ashy meister's direction, scurrying over to her desk and retrieving a piece of paper and a quill. "Goodbye, Mr. Kid. I'll see you in class tomorrow."

Maka watched Kid leave with wide eyes. He turned towards her with an eerie grin, wiping a lingering trial of black blood from the corners of his lips. Maka squeaked in horror. He grinned at her, holding a finger over his mouth with his lips puckered.

"Shhh," he mouthed behind Umbridge's back, slipping out of the office door.

Maka shifted uneasily in her chair, sitting awkwardly on her clenched fists. Her eyes scanned the slight distance between herself and the door to Umbridge's office. She could probably make it before the fat lady turned away from her desk, but the door slammed shut and locked tightly before Maka could attempt to flee.

"Don't bother." Umbridge was smiling when she turned around, folding the feather of a red quill around her finger and laying it gently on the desk in front of Maka. "I take my detention time very seriously."

Maka ground her teeth, sitting on her palms to avoid reaching up and strangling the pink woman.

"Now, then. Shall we get started?" Umbridge picked up the quill and fingered the feather lovingly, tracing it between her ringed, meaty fingers. "You have two options here, Miss Albarn. You can either tell me about what happened the other night, or . . ." She rubbed the quill between her fingers. "Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

Maka tilted her head. "The other night?" She blinked innocently.

"In the Hospital Ward." Umbridge stood, running the quill thoughtfully beneath her chin. "I heard there was a . . . disturbance."

Maka rolled her eyes. _I'll say. _

"The headmaster refused to tell me anything about it." Umbridge crossed her ankles, frowning into her palm. "Of course, I could cite him from refusing to comply to Ministry regulations, but . . ." her froggy eyes alighted on Maka. "I'd rather here your side of the story."

The ashy-blonde meister narrowed her eyes. "How do you know I was involved?"

"Eye-witness." Umbridge's grin grew a fraction. "Poor Heather. Such a gullible child."

"What did you –?"

Umbridge waved her hand. "Nothing. Nothing. I didn't do anything to the poor girl. She's fine. Resting in her common room, safe and sound."

Maka ground her teeth. _Then why don't I believe you?_

"If you could, Miss Albarn," Umbridge tapped the quill's point against the wooden desk. "I would like you to tell me everything you can about what happened the other night."

"Why should I?" The words flew unbidden from Maka's mouth.

Umbridge's eyebrow tipped upwards. "Why shouldn't you?"

The kittens behind Umbridge returned to their plates, watching the two ladies with wide, blinking eyes. The mother licked behind her ears, flipping her paw in Maka's direction.

"I don't know you."

"I don't know _you_."

"I'm not some wizard you can squash under your thumb."

"Oh, no." Umbridge's grin was three sizes too wide. "You're something _different_."

The kittens stilled. The pink room darkened. Umbridge's froggy eyes bugged out of her head.

Maka froze too, keeping with the chilly atmosphere of the room. ". . . Is that a _bad_ thing?"

The pink in Umbridge's cheeks burned a fiery red. "That depends."

"On what?"

"On whether or not you answer my question."

So they had come full circle.

Maka crossed her arms over her chest. "What do you want to know?"

Umbridge tapped the quill against her desk. "Everything."

"Everything, huh?"

What was_ everything_?

Everything was the . . .

Black blood. Demon creature. Soul. Professor Dumbledore.

Black blood. Lies. Kid. Scythe.

Black blood. Black. Kid. Dumbledore.

Black blood. Demon. Soul.

Black blood. Tristan.

Black Blood.

BLACK BLOOD.

Lord Death would sooner leave Death City than Maka would give the secrets of the mad power to Professor Umbridge.

Maka leaned forward, dropping her voice. "Do you have any idea what you're dealing with?" Her lips pulled back from her teeth in a feral smile. "The . . ." Her teeth clicked together. "Never mind. Just know, it's not to be messed with. Especially by someone like you." Maka stared at the witch's bleak soul – nothing like the prim pink colors she surrounded herself with. "Someone already so flush with madness."

"Madness?" Umbridge tipped backwards with a hand pressed dramatically over her heart. "I have no such thing."

"There are lots of types of madness." Maka narrowed her eyes at the pink Professor. "The messy kind, the chaotic kind, the kind that derives from being all neat and orderly." Maka's eyes circled around the room. "And _power-hungry_."

"How dare you make such accusations!" Umbridge stood pointing a thick ringed finger between Maka's eyes. "Never in all my life have I been so insulted."

"Oh, please." Maka crossed her arms over her chest.

"Well, I never –!"

"Are we done here?" Maka stood, brushing dust off her trailing black overcoat. "'Cause Soul and I have some work to do tomorrow and I'd really like to go over our battle plan before –"

"THAT'S IT!"

Umbridge roughly grabbed Maka's wrist, shoving her back down into her seat. She stormed over to her desk, flattening her meaty palms heavily against the aged wood. A teacup on the edge rattled noisily and the kittens on the plates behind the desk mewled pitifully.

"I've decided on a better punishment for you." Umbridge continued, her movements stiff with fury. She grabbed three pieces of paper off her desk, knocking the teacup aside. She slammed the paper in front of Maka and handed her the blood-red quill. "_Write_."

Maka's fingers were rigid around the quill's end. "You don't understand, Miss Umbridge." Her gaze flicked to the door. "There are thing I have to do. More important than –"

"Write, Miss Albarn!" Umbridge pointed to the paper.

Maka slowly lowered the quill tip to the paper. "What do you want me to write?

Umbridge smiled slowly. "Your partner's name."

Maka tipped a thin blonde eyebrow. "Soul's name?"

Her grin widened. "His full name, please."

"Umm." Maka placed the quill end on paper. "Okay."

She traced out Soul's name – _Soul Eater Evans_ – onto the thin paper. Umbridge snatched the paper away from her when she was done, scanning the letters with greedy determination.

"Evans." She smiled. "Good, very good."

"Can I go – AH!" The quill dropped from Maka's fingers as a searing pain burned through the skin of her arm. She gasped, clapping her hand over the skin as hot red letters burned through the sleeve of her overcoat.

She peeled the fabric away with shaky fingers, reading with abject horror the words blazoned onto her skin. The letters, all too familiar to Maka, spelled out the name SOUL EATER EVANS in her small, curly font.

"What –?" the pain faded as the red letters settled solidly into her skin. Traces of blood curled around the edges of the letters. "What . . . _is this_?"

Umbridge smiled widely. "Your punishment."

Maka curled her hand protectively over her aching skin. "This is . . ." The letters still burned beneath her fingers. She closed her eyes, fisting the skin around the fresh wounds. "Crazy."

"Write his name." Umbridge stood, reaching for the quill and holding it out for Maka. "Fifty times." Her grin stretched almost impossibly wide across her face. "That should be enough for today."

Maka gave the crazy pink woman one last glance before slowly lowering the quill back to the paper.

SOUL EATER EVANS she wrote, cringing as his name was burned permanently into her skin.


	15. Meister, Property of Soul Eater Evans

Another chapter! Told you I'd update! This one was really easy to write 'cause it follows the last chapter to a point almost, so yeah. I'm sorry if some of you guys are confused (you're kind of supposed to be) because I've left a lot of unanswered questions/dangling hints around the last couple chapters. But don't worry, I'll answer the real questions soon as well as get into some real action. BTW Kid is being a huge a-hole in this chapter (and in case any of you guys are wondering, I thought about writing for Maka under the influence of the black blood, but I thought it would be more interesting to give it to Kid and see how he handles it, just thought I should let you guys know). So, yeah . . . I think that's it. FF and Trinity will (hopefully) be updated today as well. But that's dependent on long how I can stay awake to write. Kay. Hope you like it and PLEASE tell me what you think :)

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Meister, Property of Soul Eater Evans

**Soul**

"That woman's insane!" he cried, kicking his toe against the end of a tattered golden tapestry.

"Easy, shark-tooth!" Ron slipped an arm around his friend's shoulder. "Don't take it out on the décor, yeah?"

"Nah, let him go, Ron." Fred grinned, linking his arms behind his head. He spread his long legs out from the sprawling red couch, resting them against a dark crimson coffee table. "This room could do with a makeover, anyway."

"I think we should get Professor McGonagall." Hermione watched Soul pace with wide, nervous eyes. "She really likes Maka, and she _hates_ Umbridge."

"We should wait until Maka gets back." Harry pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, playing nervously with his wand. "See what kind of condition she's in."

"I hate this freaking school!" The cool rage Soul had let loose on Kid after he'd returned had morphed into a burning hatred for the vile pink lady. He was losing his cool, and he actually didn't mind – it would feel good to let off some steam and punch that evil woman in the middle of her fat, square jaw.

"Oi!" Ginny lightly socked his arm. "Come on! We go here too! It's not all bad."

"Yeah, shark-tooth." Ron tossed Soul a wrapped chocolate frog. "You just came in during a bad year, that's all."

"I'll say." Soul munched on the chocolate, swallowing the tasteless lump of sugar. "But from what you guys were telling me it seems like every year is a bad year at this school."

The group gathered in the Gryffindor common room laughed heartily, quieting when a few of the dozing paintings sat up at attention.

"Here she comes!" Neville stood by the door, conversing with the fat lady.

The group sat up straighter and Soul slipped his hands into his pockets, frowning heavily. Neville tapped the door and it swung inward, revealing a bedraggled Maka.

"Maka!" Soul waved, but she didn't even look in his direction.

Her eyes were red and heavy bags dripped beneath them. She staggered through the doorway, tripping over the hem of her overcoat. Neville caught her arm before she went down, scooping her up and tugging her towards the couch by the fireplace.

The fat lady muttered something about the state of teenagers these days before swinging shut, locking them in the common room together.

"What's wrong with her?" Neville asked as Maka collapsed onto the couch, burying her face in her hands. "She looks so –"

"Maka!" Soul knelt in front of her, circling his fingers around her wrists. He tried to pry her hands off her face, but she shook her head roughly. She curled her knees into her chest and shivered, hiccupping slightly. "Maka, look at me!"

"Hermione!" Harry's voice rose above the chaos of whispers spreading through the half-empty common room. "Get the first-aid kit."

The smart witch nodded, heading for the girl's common room with Ginny on her heels.

"Harry?" Soul asked as the wizard bent, shuffling Soul out of the way. "Hey! What's going on?"

"I should have known," Harry muttered, grabbing Maka's hand. "Damn that woman."

"Hey!" Soul's ruby eyes flickered uneasily between his meister and the dark-haired wizard. "Does someone want to tell me what's going on?"

"Soul!" Maka looked up. Crystal tears traced paths down her cheeks, sparkling brightly in the light of the fire. She blinked twice at him, frowning with her lips pinched at the corners. "What are you doing here?" Her shoulders began to shake beneath her long black overcoat.

"Maka?" Soul touched her knee gently. "Maka, seriously. You're freaking me out. What's wrong?"

"We snuck him in," Harry answered the blonde meister gently, taking her hands and laying them gently in her lap. "He's come to apologize on Kid's behalf."

"Oh." Maka's face twisted and she looked away. Her fingers tapped a chaotic rhythm against the skin above her knee. "Well, I don't care. If he's so sorry he can come apologize to me himself."

"Maka, what's wrong?" Soul tried to get her to look at him, but she was having none of it. "I'm your weapon partner. You can tell me."

"It's her arm." Harry's voice was gentle – _too_ gentle. "Right, Maka? Is your arm hurting you?"

Maka blinked red-rimmed green eyes at Harry. "How'd you know?" she breathed after a moment, resting her palm against the inside of her arm.

"Her arm?" Soul asked. His frustration was boiling over, but one look from Ron silenced him.

"Hermione, got the bandages?" Harry spoke over Maka's shoulder.

"Yep." Harry disappeared and Hermione slid into his place. Ginny gently removed the coat from Maka's shoulders while Maka unrolled a thick package of white gauze. "Okay, Maka. This is going to sting a little, it has disinfectant on it, okay? Bear with me."

Maka nodded slowly.

The air was tense with the whispered breaths of the children in the Gryffindor common room.

Maka's coat slipped off her shoulders and the air stung at the open wound on her arm. Soul sucked in a breath, baring his shark teeth in a fierce frown. The rest of the group cringed in unison. Harry touched Maka's arm gentle with angry empathy.

"She's horrible," he said as Hermione covered Maka's arm with gauze. "Just horrible."

"That's your name isn't it, shark-tooth?" Ron sat beside Soul, hooking an arm around his knees. "Your full name."

"She wanted to know my name." Soul scrubbed a hand savagely through his white hair. His gaze slid back to Maka's arm. "That evil woman . . ."

SOUL EATER EVANS. Written, no, _scratched_ onto her skin in big red letters. It was Maka's handwriting – her small, girly font – traced again and again into the skin of her arm. A gruesome tattoo, puckered and pink at the edges.

"Goddammit," he muttered, letting his head fall against the couch cushions.

"It's worse than that," Maka muttered, rubbing her eyes quickly. Soul rolled his eyes her way, resting his long arm against the couch back behind her head.

"How can it get any worse?" he muttered.

"Heather was telling the truth," Maka sighed. Her hair slipped out of its pigtails and she tied the small bands around her wrists. "I tried to tell you guys that last night, but I don't think Kid wants any of you guys to know about it."

"We gathered as much." Neville crossed his arms, resting his back against the heavy stone of the common room fireplace.

"He's hiding something," Harry echoed, tossing Maka a bar of chocolate. Soul caught it, cradling the small rectangle in the palm of his hand. "Eat it." Harry nodded towards the chocolate. "It helps."

"He told me that last night he went looking for the thing that attacked me," Maka continued as Soul unwrapped the dark cocoa. "He said he wanted to make it pay for hurting me."

"Now, why'd he tell you that when he tried to so hard to convince us it was all just a dream earlier?" Hermione scratched her head.

"He wasn't exactly in his right mind tonight." Maka twisted her fingers into knots. Soul tried to push a piece of chocolate into her mouth, but she tossed him a glare, picking the small piece from his fingers and placing it on her tongue.

"Did he say why he kissed you?" Soul tried hard not to care about her answer, breaking off another piece of chocolate. He ripped half the bar between his strong, thin fingers. It crumbled into his lap and he looked around nervously, brushing the crumbs off his jeans.

Alright, he cared about her answer. He could be a man and admit it. He cared that Kid had kissed _his_ meister.

He cared a lot.

"No, but I think I have an idea." She pushed her blonde hair behind her ears nervously. "When that thing attacked me, it put some of the black blood into me."

The group recoiled, but Soul didn't flinch. "Yeah, I know."

She blinked up at him. "You did?"

He pressed another piece of chocolate against her lips. "You can't hide things from me."

A thin, red blush spread across her cheeks. Soul smiled as she opened her mouth, letting him slip the chocolate between her lips.

As she told the rest of the group about her encounter with the demon, Soul reached out for his meister's soul. Their soul waves were so in-sync it took half a thought's concentration to find her wavelength. Of course, he couldn't see anybody else's souls like Maka could. He could only see hers.

And, as far as he was concerned, her soul was the only one for him.

It was rough and thin, nothing like the strong, confident soul that his meister usually harbored. . Something had rattled her – the demon thing, Kid's kiss, whatever – but she wasn't too much worse for wear. There was a distinct trace of weariness fuzzing the lines of her soul, but it was nothing the two of them couldn't handle.

The good news was that the stain he'd felt earlier, the dark song of the black blood, was diminished, almost gone. The only black blood he could feel was his own reflected back into her. But, needless to say, Soul would be glad when he and Maka could go home and forget about this whole encounter.

"So Kid took the black blood away from you?" Hermione asked, her voice full of bright curiosity.

"He sucked it into himself? That's pretty gross!" Ginny cringed, backing into her brother's side.

"Get off!" Fred groaned. "And don't be such a girl! He's a reaper, right? He can handle it."

"Yeah, I'm sure he can." George rapped his knuckles against his sister's forehead. "Don't worry about him."

"Looks like you've got some competition, shark-tooth," Ron whispered.

"Shut up, moron." Harry elbowed his friend and the group laughed in whispers.

Well, maybe he'd miss this school a little bit.

His gaze alighted on the bandage tied tightly around Maka's arm.

Just a little.

"So, he's got the black blood now," Soul asked in a wary whisper. Maka finished off the last of the chocolate and Soul balled the wrapper into his fist, turning to his meister. "What does that mean for us?"

Maka shook her head. "I don't know, yet. It's all just –"

"Maka?"

The group turned, blinking widely as the reaper himself – in all his yellow-eyed, skull-tied glory – walked through the common room doorway. Black Star, Liz, and Patty trailed behind on his heels.

"HEY, MAKA!" Black Star raced towards the ashy blonde meister, rubbing her head furiously beneath his knuckles. "HOW'RE YOU FEELING? HOW WAS DETENTION?!"

"Get off, you idiot!" Soul shoved his friend's muscled arm off Maka's head. "She's a little banged up."

"Really?" Black Star frowned, rubbing his blue head. "What did that slimy old toad do to you?"

"Property of Soul Eater Evans?" Kid read, flipping Maka's arm up under his nose. "How fitting."

"It doesn't say that." Maka jerked her arm away from Kid, scowling nastily.

"What do _you_ want?" Harry's contemptuous voice echoed the rest of the group's unease with the young reaper.

"I want to apologize," Kid bowed stiffly with Liz and Patty at his elbows. "My conduct was grotesque at best and I do hope you can forgive me."

"Ease up, Kid," Liz rubbed her forehead, raising her voice to be heard over her sister's giggles. "She'll never believe you if you sound like that."

"Why not? I mean it." Kid's yellow eyes were heavy lidded when he swung them towards Maka. "I probably saved her life, and Soul's, by taking that black blood. I'm sorry it had to be in such a gross way, but there was no other option."

"Of course there wasn't," Soul snapped, curling his arm protectively around his meister's shoulder. Oh man, he was losing his cool. Again.

"Look, I'm sorry. I saved your lives, and what do I get in return? My own friends sneaking around my back, telling lies about me? What're you trying to do? Turn everyone against me and ruin the whole DWMA's operation?" Kid's light eyes boiled with sickly yellow fury. "That's a real good way to repay me."

"What're you talking about?" Black Star crossed his arms over his chest. "What operation? And why wasn't I told about it? I should be involved. I'm the one who will surpass God, you know."

"_We know."_

"Clearly, I'm the only one strong enough for this operation." Kid frowned at the group gathered in front of him, narrowing his gaze on Maka's pale face. "You two can just complete your mission in Hogsmeade and go. I don't need your help."

"We're a team, you idiot," Soul growled, standing up. "It doesn't work like that."

"Why're you acting like this, Kid?" Black Star's cocky demeanor slipped from his face. Angry concentration of the deadly variety slid into its place. "What's going on?"

The young reaper sighed, turning away. "Nevermind. Forget it."

"No way." Soul reached out, fisting his hand in Kid's jacket. "Tell us what's going on or I'll –"

Soul was on the floor before he could blink. Liz and Patty jumped back as Kid launched himself at the white-haired weapon, placing his foot against Soul's windpipe.

"SOUL!" Maka screamed as Kid slammed a massive kick against Soul's ribcage with his other foot.

No one breathed.

Kid kicked again.

No one moved.

Kid kicked and threw a punch, hurling himself at the dazed weapon.

No one stepped in to help.

They wanted to. They were dying to throw a few punches at the reaper's defenseless back. Ron, especially wanted nothing more than to knock the dark-haired meister's lights out and kick him out of the castle.

But they didn't dare move.

Kid's face was. Just. That. Scary.

Soul finally snapped to his senses and his arm flashed into a blade between one punch and the next. He slashed at Kid's throat and the young meister stepped back, avoiding a deadly cut to his jugular. But it wasn't enough. A thin dark slash appeared in the skin of his throat. Blood trickled from the wound, black against Kid's pale skin.

Soul blinked and his mouth opened wide, but a long _red_ drop curled down Kid's collarbone and Soul frowned.

The room filled with the two boy's harsh breathes. The air was alive with tension and testosterone. The paintings were awake, the fire was blazing, and the room held its breath, waiting for the fight to come to its conclusion.

"Don't question me.," Kid breathed after a moment, lowering his raised fists.

"Who are you to give me orders?" Soul spat, curving his blade arm across his chest.

"I don't want to fight you, Soul." Kid's eyes flashed and the dark shutter that had settled over them during their fight recoiled. He was Kid again.

And, yet . . . he wasn't.

"YOU IDIOT!"

Kid's head fell forward in half nod. Two light, pinging noises echoed across the stone as two skull rings came to rest against Soul's feet.

The room turned to Maka, taking in her wide, red eyes and her angry, flushed cheeks. Blood in the shape of Soul's name blotted through the bandage, dotting her overcoat with tiny dark patches. She pushed her sleeves up, sniffing wildly, running her hands carelessly through her thin ash-blonde hair.

Kid blinked as if seeing her for the first time. ". . . Maka?"

"You stay away from her." Soul edged closer with his blade arm drawn.

Kid whirled towards Soul, yellow eyes dimmed with dark, inky shadows. "_Why don't you make me?_" he hissed.

"GET OUT!" Maka turned on Kid, smacking her palms into his chest. "JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Kid shook his head as if shaking himself out of dream and the ink receded underneath his eyelids. "What?"

"AND DON'T COME BACK!" Maka's voice pitched into a hysterical edge and she swatted at Kid again, pushing him back a step.

He staggered back, raising a hand to his chest. Liz and Patty were behind him in an instant, faces drawn in apologetic sadness. Even Patty's childishly happy face was dark with a frown; it was so unfamiliar and unsettling on her face that it made even Soul cringe.

"What?" Kid stepped back, almost crashing into his weapons as the room turned against him, blackened with anger. "Maka, I'm –"

"JUST LEAVE!" Maka bent down and scooped up the skull rings she'd tossed, hurling them at Kid's chest like tiny bullets. "AND DON'T COME BACK UNTIL YOU'RE READY TO TELL THE TRUTH!"

"Maka?" There was nothing left of the demon Kid had become. He was completely, totally himself. But the trust his friends had put in him had been shattered.

And the sad thing was, he hadn't even been under the influence of the black blood when he'd broken it.

Kid hung his head, mouthing soundless words to himself. He turned with Liz on his heels and slowly left the Gryffindor common room. Patty stayed behind, watching Maka with wide eyes, empty of their usual smile.

"I'm sorry," Maka said into the silence after Kid had gone. "I just . . ." She looked down at her hands – at the blood spilling beneath the bandage around her wrist – and fled.

She tore up the stairs into the girl's common room, slamming the door shut behind her. Soul looked down and his blade arm flashed back into a regular one and he collapsed into the nearest chair, holding his ribcage.

"Man," he breathed, gasping for air with his hand splayed awkwardly over his side. "That reaper sure does pack a punch."

"Are you going to be okay?" Neville asked, his face drenched in the fire's light.

"Yeah," Soul nodded, sitting up. "It's cool. I'm fine."

"We'll go talk to Maka." Ginny and Hermione stood up. "Wait here, okay?"

"Sure." Soul nodded and let himself be shuffled onto the couch by Weasley boys. They fussed over him – not cool at all – until he shooed them away, lying on his back with his arm tucked around his side. The paintings, wide awake and whispering within their gilded frames, didn't say a word as Soul's eyes slipped shut and he drifted into a fitful sleep.

The nightmares returned.

The black blood. The demon imp. The bad, bad, black room.

But instead of climbing out of Maka's stomach.

He tore his way out of Kid's.

And the young reaper was smiling.


	16. Another Alliance?

Hey guys! Sorry this took so long to get out, but in case you live under a rock or something and haven't heard yet, school is - unfortunately - back in session. God I hate high school. Anyway, enough about me. Here's the new chapter. I hope you like it. Don't be confused by the continuity between this chapter and the last as well as some of the happenings in this chapter. They will all be explained soon enough

**I repeat**: BE PATIENCE AS I EXPLAIN THINGS IN THE COMING CHAPTER. I like to keep you guys guessing cause I'm mean like that :) but I'm glad you're all taking interest in the story!

As always, hope you like it and tell me what you think :)

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Another Alliance?

**Maka**

"Easy, Maka." Soul's voice was tinny, stretching towards her from a long distance. "Be careful," he murmured. "We don't want to tip this _Ravener_ guy off."

The target was out in the courtyard. His bulky back was hunched with the weight of his package – a bag of souls ripped from freshly dead bodies in a local graveyard. He swung his head back and forth, turning to the side to inspect the empty courtyard he crouched in. Snow swirled beneath his feet, reflecting brightly on the man's beady raven eyes.

The Ravener. Named for the black birds spotted over graveyards. And since a graveyard was the Ravener's choice travel destination, the name stuck rather well.

"Since when are _you_ all about secrecy?" she hissed at him, edging forward. Snow crunched beneath her boots. The sound echoed through the empty building, muffled to some degree by the snow currently falling.

The man stiffened, turning his head in her direction. He pinned a black eye on the doorway she hid behind, shuffling closer with the bag of souls slung over his shoulder. A bulky raven crouched on his shoulder, snapped its beak in her direction and flew away.

"We have Black Star on the mission with us." The ruby eye on the end of the blade rolled upwards. "He's enough recklessness for all four of us."

"Speaking of which . . ." Maka poked her head out of the empty doorway. The Ravener turned away, plucking a soul from the bag and inspecting it carefully. His beady eyes roamed over the round, blue shape of the soul, examining it greedily. "He should be coming with Tsubaki in three." She bent her knees, tensing for the long fight ahead of her.

"Two." Soul grinned within the blade's depths.

Maka tightened her grip on Soul's handle. "One."

"YAHOOO!" Black Star slid down the roof of one of the Hogsmeade buildings, Tsubaki clutched between his tough fists. "SHOW ME WHAT YOU'VE GOT, RAVEN-MAN!"

The Ravener turned, rolling out from under Black Star's blade. The bag of souls flew from his hand, landing near the doorway beside Maka. Black Star grinned, brandishing his chain scythe high over his head.

"NOW, MAKA!"

"Got it!"

Maka darted from the doorway, scooping up the bag by its hard, roped handle. The Ravener turned, a dark scowl twisting his lips, but Black Star drew his attention with a deep swipe at the man's dark face.

"I'M THE ONLY ONE WORTH PAYING ATTENTION TO HERE, RAVEN-MAN!" he crowed, swinging Tsubaki at the man's twisted face.

"Hurry, Maka!" Soul shouted as Maka knotted the bag's handle, keeping the poor souls from falling out of the bag's confines. "Black Star won't keep him occupied for long."

"I'm going," she grunted. She slid Soul beneath her armpit, finishing the knot with her teeth. The hard rope scratched at her tongue and she spit out a small mouthful of blood. "Okay. Let's go get these to Kid."

"GO, MAKA!" Black Star was on the roof opposite her, hurling ninja-star Tsubaki at the Ravener's thick legs. "I CAN HANDLE THIS GUY!"

"NOOO!" The Ravener turned, barreling over the snow towards the ashy blonde meister. "THOSE ARE NOT FOR YOU!"

"He's coming, Maka!" Soul growled. Maka tightened her grip on Soul's handle.

"I can see that!" she spat, tossing the bag over her shoulder and swinging Soul up to block the man's vicious attack.

A thick, scarred blade slid down his arm, landing in the palm of his hand. Sparks flew as his blade connected with Maka's and the Ravener tossed her a hard smile. "Fast girl," he muttered. "Nicely done."

Maka bared her teeth. "Thanks." She pumped her arms, pushing him back a few feet in the snow. "But I don't take compliments from ghouls like you."

The Ravener straightened, spitting into the snow. "A ghoul, am I?" He laughed, rolling one bloodshot black eye in Maka's direction. "And what does that make you, love? A pretty little fairy?"

"No way." Maka swung Soul up towards the man's arm. He blocked just in time and their blades connected with a sharp clang. Maka gritted her teeth. "I'm a meister."

She let the man loose as Black Star slid through the snow, tossing Tsubaki at the Ravener's back. The man hit the ground, narrowly avoiding the blade. A massive plume of snow swirled around him as he rolled, popping up from the dusted ground. Surprisingly lithe for his size, he lunged at Black Star, his dark coat swung in a black arc behind his back.

With one huge fist, he knocked Black Star back into a wide glass storefront opposite Maka. Candy and sugared sweets flew in all directions, peppering the snow with small dark holes. Syrup bled across the snow as Black Star twitched once then relaxed his tight fists, collapsing against the broken glass and crushed wood floor.

"Let's see what you've got then, little fairy." The man grinned, turning to her.

Maka swallowed hard, jerking the bag of souls tighter across her shoulder. "You got it, Ravener."

The fight was long and brutal. For a supposedly easy target, Maka had a hard time pinning down the ghoulish man. He ducked and dodged as easily as she did, avoiding even her fastest attacks. Her fingers numbed long before the fight's close and her breathe clouded her vision, becoming darker with every second. Soul grumbled and shouted within the blade, yelling at Maka as the Ravener ducked swing after swing.

"What's your problem, idiot! You can't even land a hit!"

"I'm trying!" she cried, spinning in a sharp circle. Her foot kicked out and she knocked the man in the jaw, pushing him against a large statue in the middle of the courtyard. She swung Soul at his grinning face, but he ducked and Soul lodged in the statue's cold metal, burying himself up to his large red eye.

"MAKA!" he cried as she released him, clasping her empty hands with a trickle of fear in her eyes.

"I've got you now, fairy-child." The Ravener lunged, grabbing for her blonde pigtails.

"_IMPEDIAMENTA_!"

A burst of light cleared the air over Maka's shoulder and the man released her, bouncing back onto his heels.

Maka turned quickly, blinking as Harry, Ron, and Hermione dropped down from the swirling winter sky, circling above the fight on their broomsticks.

"What the hell?" she breathed, waving a hand in front of her face to clear the snow from her eyes.

Harry waved his wand at her, grinning as the snowy wind whipped his black hair in front of his face.

"We're a team, aren't we?" he shouted over the storm.

A warm grin flashed briefly across her face, easing the tension knotting her gut.

"_Accio_ Soul!" Ron pointed his wand at the statue Soul had lodged himself in. The blade dislodged from within the depths of the metal and flew up to Ron, landing heavily beside him on the broomstick.

"Damn," Soul muttered, patting himself down quickly. The spell had held until he'd reached Ron, then broken, barely giving him enough time to shift into human form and seat himself on the broomstick. "Magic's pretty incredible."

"Thanks, shark-tooth." Ron tossed Hermione his wand, gripping the broom's handle with both hands. "Now let's get you to your meister."

"SOUL!"

Below him, Maka jumped backwards, avoiding another of the Ravener's brutal attacks. His dark blade swung down into the snow, scattering the icy flakes everywhere.

"Hold still, fairy." He grunted, pulling his blade from the earth. "I just want to look at ya." His blade sliced the air by her cheek and a shallow rivet in her cheek stung as the cold air kissed it. "Bet your soul's nice and pretty."

"Get me to Maka!" Soul shouted in Ron's ear. "Then you and Hermione go see if Black Star's okay."

"Where is he?" Hermione barreled through the air beside Ron, dipping low over her broom with a slightly green expression.

"He crash-landed in a candy shop," Soul muttered, slowly standing up on Ron's broom. He jerked forward as Ron descended sharply and the ginger muttered a low apology.

"_Stupefy_!" Harry threw another spell at the bulky man, grinding his teeth in frustration. "_Rictusempra_! _Incarcerous_! _Levicorpus_!"

"It's no use, Harry." Soul managed to hold his balance on the end of Ron's broom. He crouched, sticking his blade arm high above his head. The red and black triangles flashed in the snowy light as he raised his other hand out towards his meister. "This guy . . . he's something else."

"You guys take care of him then." Harry lowered his wand. His glasses flashed sharply in the dimming light. "I'll watch your back."

"MAKA!" Soul stretched out his arm.

Maka kicked at the Ravener's legs, turning towards Soul with her arms raised.

"_Accio_ bag!" Harry shouted, pointing his want at Maka and lifting the bulky bag from her arm.

The Ravener took no notice of its disappearance.

Soul leaped from the broomstick as Ron and Hermione pulled away, jerking in the direction of the Honeydukes shop. In mid-air, they collided, with snow swirling brightly around them. Soul wrapped his fingers around Maka's wrist and hers clenched tightly around the base of his palm, connecting them indefinitely.

Soul became a scythe between one breathe and the next. Maka turned with effortless fluidity, slamming the back of Soul's blade into the Ravener's gut. He grunted, dropping the blade he'd poised over her head, slamming backwards into the statue's cold metal base. Maka pushed forward, digging the flat part of Soul's blade against the man's chest.

"I know you." The Ravener spat as Maka ground his back against the statue's base. "You're the girl afflicted."

Maka didn't flinch, but her breathe froze solidly in her chest. "The girl _what_?"

"I've seen you." The man was grinning now. He was missing two teeth near the front of his jaw and to make up for it, he'd filed his canines to a wicked sharp point. "In the creature's mind."

Maka's hands began to shake around Soul's hilt. "The . . . _creature_?"

"Maka." Soul rolled his great eye towards her. "Calm down. Your soul waves are all over the place."

"The man of black blood. The demon creature. I know you know him." Greasy gray hair spilled out from around the man's dark cap and he leaned forward, blowing alcohol breathe in Maka's face. "He _likessss_ you."

Maka no longer had control over her own limbs. Soul slipped from her fingers, landing heavily in the cold snow. The Ravener grinned, reaching forward and grabbing Maka's pigtail, bending her backwards with his brute strength.

She cried out and Soul growled, flashing within the blade's depths. The Ravener scowled meanly at the weapon, kicking him far out of Maka's range. The white-haired weapon flashed into human form, baring his teeth in a hard grin as his meister was drug forward across the cold snow.

"Let her go!" he cried, swinging his blade arm up and level with the man's eyeballs.

"I've got your fairy, little boy!" The Ravener shook Maka roughly by the pigtail and she gasped harshly. "Watcha gonna do from all the way over there?"

"Maka!"

Ron and Hermione had just finished digging the weary Black Star out of the ruined storefront. The blue-haired weapon moved unsteadily forward, but Ron caught him as he slumped, bleeding heavily from a gash in his leg. Tsubaki flashed out of weapon form, kneeling tenderly in front of him and pulling glass pieces out of his skin.

"No," he groaned, falling forward into the snow as Ron jerked him out of the wreckage. "Maka . . ."

"Silly boy," the Ravener grunted, tugging Maka forward another half step. She barely struggled; her legs were heavy with dread. "All of them, really. They have no idea the fear others struggle with." He grinned down at her. "The fear _you_ struggle with." He whispered more dark words into her ear, painting her heart black with despair.

"A trade!" Harry hovered beside Soul on the broomstick. "You want these, right?" He held the bag of souls above his head. "These souls!?"

The Ravener shrugged. "A Grigori soul's worth a hundred of those."

"Give. Her. Back!" Soul darted forward, but Harry jerked him back with a fist in his collar.

A small, silver blade appeared out of nowhere, pressing sharply against the skin of Maka's throat.

"Don't move," Harry growled nodding in the blade's direction.

"_Buuuuuutttttt_ . . . since I'm in such a good mood today," the Ravener drawled, pulling Maka behind him by her pigtail. She sniffed loudly, pressing her lips together firmly as a few red drops dripped from the back of her neck onto the snow. "I'll make your trade."

The swirling snow carried the man's words towards the rag-tag group across from him, but Soul didn't relax. Thankfully, neither did Harry.

"What's the catch?"

The man laughed, spat, then laughed some more. "I could take your soul, Potter. A Grigori for a Grigori. Sounds good, right?"

Soul slid the young wizard a side-long look.

Harry's green eyes were wide behind his glasses. "Say again?"

"Or maybe, yours, Miss Granger?" the Ravener slid Hermione an eager look. "Your soul is just as pretty. But her wings are bigger, I have to admit." He shook the end of Maka's pigtail.

Soul swung his eyes in the clever witch's direction. "_You too_?"

"But because I'm so nice . . ." He tossed Maka in Soul's direction. "You can have her."

She landed face-first in the snow, staining it with small drops of blood. Soul's fingers twitched, but he didn't dare move towards her.

"Besides," the Ravener turned in a dark circle, pulling his sleeve up above his elbow. He bared the pale flesh at the group, tracing his finger over a dark green tattoo of a laughing skull with a snake slithering from his mouth. "The Dark Lord will have you all in the end.

A dark laugh lingered in the air behind him as the Ravener vanished in a dark plume of smoke.

Maka didn't move as Soul ran towards her, scooping her limp body up in his arms. Everything – the snow, Soul's pale face, Harry's wide eyes, the rush of air past her face – was in slow motion. The Ravener's last whispers burned through her brain, like fiery letters painted onto the air.

_The boy-king might have taken away the madness, but he left the fear behind. And that's not something you can get rid of easily. _

_Think about that next time you try to resonate with your precious Soul._

His laugh was the last thing to leave her, lingering like the smoke in the Hogsmeade courtyard.


	17. Bonus Chapter

Just a little chapter to let you know I'm still alive! Sorry for the slow update (school is killing me arrrgggghhh) but hopefully this will hold you over until the weekend when I'll really get cracking on updating.

So yeah. This is one of Maka's nightmares she had when she was in the Hospital Wing dreaming about soul. I thought it up in class on a whim one day. It involves a little dirty Soul (nothing tooo pervy, don't worry) because I really like the idea of Soul and Maka kissing / ending up together – who doesn't? – so yeah. I decided to throw some of that in here :) BTW, no editing so enjoy that! Enjoy and, as always, tell me what you think!

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Bonus Chapter: Soul and Maka in the Black Room

"Welcome back." His voice was smooth silk, wrapping tightly around her skin. "Did you miss me, Maka?"

She turned and he was there, waiting for her on the end of the piano seat. He patted it the empty side with a wide tan hand, beckoning her with a shark-toothed grin. "Have a seat."

Lead weights looped around Maka's ankles as she walked towards Soul. Her heart beat heavily, fluttering wildly with dread, and her breathe was rapid in her chest. She talked herself out of sitting beside in a million different ways in the four steps it took to reach him. She almost opened her mouth to tell him as much, but his grin, his intimidating row of sharp, white teeth stunned her into silence.

"Want to play?" He gestured towards the keys when she finally sat down beside him.

Maka shook her head no – she still had some control over her own limbs.

"You sure?" Soul reached forward, resting his fingers gently on the keys. "We can play together, if you want." He stroked the keys almost lovingly, tracing the white pads with his fingertip and tapping the strong black ridges with a fingernail.

She shook her head again, but her fingers twitched at her sides. She frowned, sliding them into her lap to play with the delicate grey lace looped around the edge of her dress.

"Fine." Soul tapped a few keys lightly.

"Do whatever you want."

He reached forward, pressing the keys by her left arm.

"But, you know."

His bare arm – the sleeves of his pinstriped suit were rolled up by his elbows – brushed against her skin and goose bumps danced across her arm.

"I think we could play."

His arm looped around her waist, reaching for the keys on her other side.

"Very nicely."

His lips were at her ear as he played with the keys on her far right side, leaning his body into hers.

"Together."

Soul stopped pretending to play, looping his arms completely around her waist and drawing her into him. She didn't resist him, she would never resist him, just placidly slid her arms up to rest on his chest.

Their lips slid across each other, two solid lines smashed together into one. Maka had never kissed Soul before – had never kissed anyone before – but if this was how it was going to be, she would get started right away.

_Stop it, Maka!_ She scolded herself, pressing her palms flat against his chest. _This isn't Soul! This is that demon thing . . . isn't it?_

Soul's lips pulled away from hers, just a fraction of space between them. "Stop?" He grinned his sharp grin right up against her lips, nibbling softly at the pink skin there. "You really want to stop?"

"Did I say that out loud?" Maka's voice was low and breathy, barely a whisper in her mouth.

Soul chuckled softly, pressing her harder into his chest. "You did."

Maka shook her head sharply, blinking rapidly to clear her thoughts. "I meant it."

His grin grew, revealing all his shark teeth, row after row of them. "Sure you did."

"Really." She tried to push him back but her arms were like wet noodles. And his . . . his were strong iron rods, roped with sinewy muscle. They stretched around Maka's waist, tying her to him. "You're not Soul."

"So you've said." He spun, pushing her back against the piano's keys. "But, I feel like Soul, right?"

His arm, tight and hard around her, definitely felt like Soul's.

"I look like Soul, right?" The piano's keys crunched beneath her, letting a dazzling chord of Soul's mad piano echo through the Black Room's infinite hallways. His grin was 110% Soul as he shifted forward, blinking white hair out of his eyes.

"Uh huh."

Had his eyes always been so red? They were ruby-red orbs in the middle of his red. Or giant strawberries ready to eat . . . .

"I smell like Soul, don't I?" He leaned closer so his neck was right beneath Maka's nose. "Assuming you know what I smell like."

His condescending tone lowered Maka closer to a comfortable level of reality. "I _live_ with the guy."

"Ookay then. I'm going to assume you know what I . . . _taste_ like then?" He stole her lips, kissing her lightly then harder, pressing her back against the piano keys until the low sound growling beneath her stretched on endless, crunching forever under their combined weight.

"Now that," Maka breathed when he let up. "I don't know."

"Hmm, your loss." His hands wound up into her hair, tugging her pigtails around his face.

Maka followed his lead, led by his tugging of her hair, kissing him with the intensity she felt building in her chest. When air became necessary, she raised her hands up to his, grabbing his fingers and thrusting them aside.

"Let. Up," she panted.

"Why should I?" Soul was undisturbed by Maka's refusal of his advances. His grin was a pirate grin, all mischievous and swagger with a healthy dose of nasty intent. "You're enjoying it. I'm enjoying it. It's is a win-win situation, Maka."

He lowered his head to her neck, kissing the hollow beneath her throat.

"What? No!" she gasped, resting her hands on his shoulders. "You can't do that!"

He grinned against her throat. "Do what?" He kissed the skin again.

"Stop it!"

"You mean this?"

"Soul!"

"Or maybe this?"

"Soul, God! Stop!"

"What about this? Can I do this?"

"Ah! God, you're killing me!"

"No, I'm biting you." His sharp teeth nipped at the skin above her collarbones and his nose traced a line down the pale column of her throat. "There's a difference."

"You have to stop!"

"Nah. Not feeling it."

"Seriously." She pushed him back, breathing hard. "No more."

Soul's grin frosted around the edges, turning hard and sharp like his teeth. "And why not?"

"Because." Maka looked away, trying to cool the racing blush lighting up her cheeks. "You're not Soul."

"Oh, but I am."

Maka turned back as Soul wiped his scythe arm up to her throat, pinning her head back. She gasped, reaching up to throw his blade away, but he grabbed her wrists with one hand, holding them tightly against his chest. Maka squirmed, trying to kick at Soul's lower body on the bench in front of hers, but he spread his legs, pinning hers uselessly in between his. Then he grinned, jutting his chin forward to rest on the flat edge of his blade arm.

"I like this." His eyes rolled slowly up and down her wriggling form. "Maka. In her element."

"You are _not_ Soul!" she growled. She wanted to spit the sweet taste of him out of her mouth and trade it for something real, something not made of candied lies.

"Maka, Maka, Maka." He pressed in with the blade, tipping her head farther up towards the ceiling. "I am Soul. I'm what's inside of him. I'm his black blood."

"You're that damn imp," she coughed. Hot red blood spilled down the side of her neck, just three drops against her pale skin.

"No. He's someone else." Soul's eyes watched the blood roll down her neck and a small trail of drool dripped from the side of his shark-toothed grin. "I'm the half of Soul he doesn't want you to see. The half who's more willing to give into his . . ." he trailed off, tipping Maka's head back so her chin was perpendicular with the black ceiling. He leaned forward until his nose was resting against Maka's collarbone. "_Desires_."

"Stop it," Maka's voice was quivering slightly as Soul's doppelgänger pushed her against the piano keys. "Just stop it."

"You've got to admit." He spoke with his lips pressed against her skin, dragging his teeth across it lightly. "You've had this fantasy before. You've wanted to kiss Soul before. Kiss _me_ before. Haven't you?"

Maka refused to give him the pleasure of an answer.

"Your heartbeat tells me yes." He pressed his mouth over her jugular artery, feeling its rapid pulse with his lips. "You're attracted to me."

"To Soul maybe. But not to you." She shoved him one last time, kicking upwards with her feet between his and nailing him in one of his . . . unsavory spots.

The Soul doppelganger recoiled with a pained moan, but a weary half-grin traced across his lips.

"You've done it now," he muttered when he recovered, kneeling upon one knee on the checkered floor of the Black Room.

"What have _I_ done?" Maka reached down and kicked the piano seat in half. She reached down and pried one of the legs out of the wood, making sure to splinter the wood in as many places as she could. She aimed it at Soul's look-alike like a weapon and to her, it was, since her actual weapon had been replaced by a horny pyscho.

"You've admitted it." His grin faded as a curl of red blood – _Maka's blood_ – spilled from the corner of his lips. "You. Like. Him," his voice was a taunting jeer as he faded away, dropping into a dark puddle of black blood.

At the same time, Maka collapsed, landing with her makeshift weapon pointed inward.

Surprisingly, she felt no pain. She watched as her blood ran out to mix with Soul's, blending beautifully into a dark mixture of red and black. Natural and dark. Two sides of the same coin, they were. And that was how they would always be.

She sighed in relief as she closed her eyes and drifted in consciousness, sure of the fact that somewhere, the real Soul was out there waiting for her, waiting to kiss her in the same way Soul's doopelganger had.

At least, that was what she hoped, anyway.

She didn't even know if it was actually the case.

But it was.


	18. One Step Closer, Ten Steps Back

YAY CHAPTER! See! Faster update, right! I know, pretty cool, huh? Anyway, hoped you liked the Bonus Chapter I don't think I'll do anything more with that (although, I might) and if you didn't read it you should cause Soul and Maka do some kissy kissy :) That was my first time writing one of those scenes so I hope I did okay . . . ? Okay. So this is supposed to clarify some things and set the tone for the next couple chapters/the rest of whatever-the-hell this is. Okay? Okay. cool. Hope you like it and as always tell me what you think! (Oh if anyone's still confused, leave a comment and I'll try to explain in the next chapter)

**DISCLAIMER**: (cause I haven't done this in a while) This aren't my characters. I'm just borrowing them. Temporarily. With full intention on giving them back :)

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One Step Closer, Ten Steps Back

**Death the Kid**

"Completely irresponsible!"

Professor Dumbledore turned sharply, pacing back and forth within his study, surrounded by a half circle of wary teachers. "How dare they take on the Ravener without my permission!"

_I could've told you that one_, Kid rolled his eyes, hovering above the spectacle on his skateboard. He was outside the office, sitting on his skateboard with his legs crossed one over the other. He was close enough to the glass that he could see in without having to squint his yellow eyes. The darkness around him acted as a shield against any prying eyes that might have happened to look upwards toward where he was hanging.

Liz and Patty were in his pockets, resonating with his soul, allowing Kid to pick up the muted sounds of the professor's voices within Dumbledore's study.

"To be fair, sir, it was their mission," Professor Flitwick shifted on the stack of books he rested upon, straightening his back so as to appear taller. "They couldn't put it off forever."

"Yes, but so soon after her injury . . ." Dumbledore stroked his beard thoughtfully, going to a stone on the other side of his room. Silvery liquid reflected the light outside the basin, illuminating the wrinkled folds of the professor's face as he leaned above it.

"Maka Albarn is strong, Albus. With an equally strong partner," Professor McGonagall plucked at the green folds of her robe, biting her lips around the half-truth that left them.

"Ah, yes." Albus tapped his wand to his head, pulling out a long silvery strand and depositing it within the silver basin. "He is strong. Too strong, I think, for just himself and that little girl."

"He will manage." Snape's voice was cold, but not without a grim sort of admiration. "He suffers, but he suffers alone; he keeps it to himself."

"So does she." McGonagall sent Snape a withering glare. "Do you not realize how _unhealthy_ that is?"

Dumbledore chuckled, drawing out another strand of silver light and twirling it around the end of his wand. "They are a perfect pair. Partners that live for each other; They are bound together by the very airs and emotions of the other." His chuckle wore on for a moment, straining into deep sadness. "They have what many of us will never have. A true connection to another being in this world."

"Oh, don't be so hopeless, Albus!" Professor McGonagall rolled her eyes, but even she was not convinced.

"That Kid is another matter." Snape's tone chilled considerably.

"A change has come over that young man," Flitwick nodded.

"And not," Albus continued, moving back towards the circle of teachers. "I think, for the better."

"He's been touched by the madness, sir." The old nurse Madame Pompfrey bobbed her grey head solemnly. "The same madness that once held the Albarn child in its grasp."

"He took it from her." Snape crossed his arms over his chest, leaning against the stone opposite Dumbledore. "Umbridge said as much."

"Ugh!" Professor McGonagall turned away, plucking at her dress with increasing intensity. "That vile woman!"

"Even the ones that are saved continue to fear." Dumbledore's hands were fisted in his wiry beard. "Is there nothing we can do?"

"The four of them. Together they might be able to . . ." Madame Pompfrey shook her head, trailing off into silence. "No, it's no use. Without Death the Kid in his proper mindset, our plan is hopeless."

"How many of them are there?" Flitwick hopped down from his stool, counting the numbers on his fingers. "Maka Albarn, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger . . ."

"We must include Soul in that count." Dumbledore stood, nodding in Flitwick's direction. "He may not have a Grigori soul, but without him Maka cannot properly wield her wavelength."

"Is that it?" Flitwick looked crestfallen. "Are the numbers of Grigori souls within our ranks really so few?"

"If we are to fight the madness within our school." Dumbledore turned to the window, peering out into the darkness with his piercing blue gaze. "We _must_ return Kid to his proper mindset. For without him, all our plans of redemption are lost."

The old man seemed to be staring straight at Kid when he spoke. His blue eyes sparkled mischievously behind his half-moon glasses and Kid frowned, peeling away into the black sky with his skateboard.

_Good luck with that one, old man_, Kid thought to himself. _I work only for my father. And he's got a different agenda . . . _

**Soul**

The Gryffindor common room was closed to him, barred by the great Fat Lady.

"I TOLD you," he growled for the hundredth times, balling his hands into fists. "I'm with Maka Albarn. She's in there right now. I _need_ to see her."

"Hmmph." The Fat Lady sniffed, turning away from him. She popped a grape from the vine by her head, crunching the skin between her teeth. "I don't believe you."

"I was in here the other day!"

"Prove it! What was the password?"

"Uhhhh . . ."

"That's what I thought!"

"Come on! I really need to see her!"

"Well, why don't you try seeing her during the _daytime_, hmm?"

"I told you, she was in the Hospital Wing all day. Now let. Me. IN!"

"Hmmph. Now with that attitude."

"Ugghhhh. _Please_ let me in?"

The Fat Lady rested her chin on her hands, rolling her eyes skyward and pretending to think. "Uhh . . . No."

"What!?"

"You heard me! Now, shoo! Before Filch catches you. Students aren't supposed to be out of their beds at night!"

The Fat Lady turned away, disappearing into the background of her portrait. She sat down beside an elegant blue pool and opened her mouth, letting a flood of high, cracked notes fill the painting's frame.

"Screw you," Soul muttered, hanging his head and turning away.

"Idiot," Soul continued to mutter, stomping down the staircase in the general direction of the Slytherin common room. "She's so stupid."

"Eater!" A low voice whispered at him from within a patch of darkness ahead of him. "Hey, Eater!"

"What the hell?" Soul spoke into the darkness, slipping his hands into his pockets. He stepped off the last step of the staircase, peering into the dark opening leading down to the Dungeon. He turned around sharply as the staircase shifted, nearly smacking him down as it rotated, floating up to connect with another staircase high above him.

"Dammit," he muttered, shifting his eyes across the darkness. "I'm caged in."

"No worries, Eater." The low voice melted out of the darkness into the slimy pale shape of Draco Malfoy. "I come in peace."

Soul snorted, curling his lip up over sharp, pointed teeth. "Yeah, right, Malfoy. What're you playing at?"

"I've got information for you." The sharp-faced boy didn't react to Soul's thinly veiled threat. His face was washed clean of all emotion; even the lingering speck of cruelty Soul always saw in his eyes was gone. He was completely pale, his face transparent and open like a book.

Soul rocked back on his heels, but didn't relax. "What kind of information?"

"About your friend." Malfoy's mouth soured around the word, and he looked down at the ground. "The weird one."

Soul's red eyes widened, the only light in the darkness before the Dungeon steps. "Kid?"

Malfoy nodded sharply.

Curiosity sparked deep within Soul's eyes, but he slid a mask of indifference over it, slipping his hands into his pockets. "What about him?"

"He's acting weird." Malfoy seemed to be struggling with himself. His lips, thin and pale, stretched, barely opening around his teeth. He could barely get his mouth open wide enough to squeeze the words through.

Soul's eyebrows dipped low on his brow. "That's his default personality, Malfoy. No need to make fun of him for it."

"You don't get it." Malfoy shrugged, turning away. "That's fine. I didn't expect you to."

Soul's brain didn't have enough time to catch up with his mouth. It opened before he told it and the word flew from his mouth, unbidden. "Wait."

Malfoy turned back. His body turned first with his head slowly swiveling in Soul's direction. His sharp eyes held the trace of a grin when they met Soul's and his lips twitched upwards. The pale face deepened with a trace of pride.

_What're you plotting?_ Soul narrowed his eyes at the shallow, cold-hearted boy.

"What kind of weird?"

"He's talking to someone."

"Who?"

"A big black guy."

"Wow, Malfoy. You're a lot of things, but I didn't think racist was one of them."

"No, stupid. I mean black. Like _pitch black_. He's wearing some kind of big flowy coat, only he never takes it off."

Soul's heart dropped. "Does he wear a mask?"

"I dunno." Malfoy shrugged. "I didn't get a good look."

"What do they talk about?"

"I told you, I don't know. I just know that Kid spends a lot of his time in the bathroom talking to that guy."

Soul's eyes narrowed skeptically. "You must've heard _something_, Malfoy."

The boy's pale face grew paler, nearly glow-in-the-dark. He jerked his head over his shoulder with a quick, nervous twitch and Soul's mouth tipped further downwards.

"_Maka_." Malfoy's mouth formed the word tenderly, with an odd kind of softness playing out within his voice. "They talk about Maka."

Two kinds of bad feeling roiled within Soul's stomach, fighting for dominance over his expression. "Maka?" Soul said through gritted teeth.

Obviously Soul wasn't as good at mastering his expression as he thought. Malfoy recoiled with a rolled eye. "Ease up, Eater. I'm not the enemy here."

_Aren't you though?_ The words perched precariously on the edge of his tongue. He swallowed them sharply and they burned like acid all the way down his throat.

"What do they say?"

Malfoy shrugged. "Kid talks about her progress and about what happened down in the Hospital Wing." At Soul's raised eyebrows, the blonde rolled his eyes. "Yeah. I heard all about it. Hogwarts may be a big school, but the students here aren't as different as you'd think. We like to gossip."

"What does Lord Death – er, I mean – _the black guy_ say back?"

Malfoy raised his eyebrows, but didn't ask. "He warns Kid to be careful and to keep her away from danger. They seem to be really concerned about her."

"Well, they should be." Soul's hands fisted unconsciously. "She's got me for a partner."

Malfoy ignored that, continuing with a low voice. "She's got some kind of soul that's supposed to help purify the school or whatever. They're going to extend your stay here until she's no longer needed."

Soul ran his fingers through his white hair with an agitated grin. "Looks like we're going to be here a lot longer than we expected."

"There's more." Malfoy stepped closer with small, cautious steps, peering over his shoulder again like Kid was going to apparate behind him.

_What now?_ Soul wanted to say, but zipped his lips around the words.

"The black man . . ." He looked over her shoulder again. "I think he _knows_."

Soul's mouth flat-lined into a dark frown. "Knows what?"

"About Kid." Malfoy seemed to be hinting around something, but his mouth stretched thin again, snapping shut around his words. "Know what I mean?"

Soul closed one eye, peering oddly at the slimy blonde boy. "No, I don't."

Malfoy sighed irritably, snapping his eyes shut. "You really are thick, aren't you?"

Soul bared his teeth at the boy. "Say that again."

"Honestly." Malfoy stepped back, crossing his arms over his chest. He seemed to have regained some confidence, gaining energy by bullying others. "I don't know how she puts up with you."

"Cut to the chase, Malfoy. Lord Death knows about what?"

"Kid's _affliction_."

Soul's blood ran cold when the word left Malfoy's small, closed mouth. It was the same word the Ravener had used to describe Maka.

"Affliction?" Dread poked holes in Soul's stomach.

"He's sick, you idiot! Even I can see that!" Malfoy's sneer was laced with a touch of fear. "He's been that ever since he kissed your girl! And now she's . . ." Malfoy trailed off, shaking his head.

Soul's mouth snapped shut around a harsh accusation, but a few words came out nonetheless. "Go on."

"She's just scared." Something akin to pity burned in Malfoy's eyes, brighter than a flame. It flashed for a second then dwindled. He blinked twice and it was gone, just a faint glimmer lingering around his pupils. "Don't you see it?"

Malfoy was giving voice to the creeping suspicion Soul had felt ever since Kid had kissed her. Both Harry and Ron had mentioned it earlier on the way back from Hogsmeade, but Soul had refused to give into that conversation. He'd needed some confirmation. Some _sign_ that his meister really was deteriorating before he took it upon himself to go down that path with her.

And here it was. The last bit of proof he needed.

But why did it have to come from _Draco Malfoy_ of all people?

Soul took a breath before responding, forcing the words out of his mouth with the air out of his lungs. "Yeah."

"Good." Malfoy nodded, a hint of a smile lingering around his lips. "Then you'll do something about it?"

Soul kicked at the dark stone beneath his feet. "I'll try."

"No." Soul blinked once before meeting Malfoy's level gaze. "You will."

_What the hell?_ Soul's lips parted in a pointy half grin. _Since when do I take orders from this creep? _

"Get going then." Malfoy stepped back, vanishing into the darkness apart from the white fire of his pale skin and hair. "I'll keep an eye on Kid."

"Wait, Malfoy!" Soul reached out for the darkness. "Why are you doing this? Looking out for Maka and everything?"

Soul needed and dreaded the slimy boy's response, but the only answer he received was the sound of Malfoy's footsteps fading away into the darkness of the Dungeon.


	19. Bad News

Thank God another chapter. Sorry it took so long (I feel like I'm constantly apologizing for being behind so I'm sorry for that as well . . . err I guess I shouldn't say I'm sorry, per say . . . uh okay umm anyway) so yeah. This one's kind of long (ish) to make up for lost time. Sort of a cliffhanger at the end, we'll see and little to no editing so yay for laziness! Oh and uh sorry for that last bit (the flip-floppy dialogue I'm real tired and about to crash after a shower so I apologize for the ensuing confusion. Anyway, on with the show.

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Bad News

**Soul**

The days stacked endlessly, one upon the other. The lives of Soul and his meister became a tired routine.

Classes.

Training.

Classes.

Hunting.

Training.

Classes.

Being a student at Hogwarts was harder than Soul had first anticipated. And things only got worse as the first semester dwindled. Winter Break and, ultimately, winter finals, loomed before him. To make matters worse, Professor Dumble-dunce was showing no inclination or exempting the meisters from the finals. It didn't matter that they hadn't attended the first half of any of the classes. And they weren't wizards or witches.

Soul though that might be a problem, but Dumbledore didn't seem to care.

More like, he didn't have time to think about Soul and Maka. His mind was consumed with Kid's madness and finding the thing that stalked his forest.

Since their failure to capture the Ravener, Maka and Soul had gone out hunting every night, roaming the castle, Hogsmeade, and parts of the Forbidden Forest to find the fiends hideout. Black Star and Tsubaki came too, scanning the forest to keep an eye out for their target.

Barely a week into hunting, both meisters were ready to drop out of the sky. Between classes, DA training with Harry, and this nightly hunting, both Black Star and Maka were having a hard time stabilizing their soul wavelengths. Even the two weapons had to struggle to keep up the soul link between them and their meisters.

"I can't do this anymore!" Black Star cried, tipping forward across Tsubaki's shadow. "This is hard, even for a god like me."

"Maka? Maka?" Soul called for his meister, reaching out to feel her placid wavelength.

Maka tipped forward, eyes firmly shut, falling over the edge of Soul's handle.

"NOT AGAIN!" Soul cried, stretching his arm out of his own blade and grabbing the back of Maka's collar. "WAKE UP, STUPID!" he shook her roughly as they dangled above the forest top.

Harry and Ron began to tag along after that.

A few days after the incident, Soul and Maka filed a report to Lord Death under Dumbledore's orders. In it, they described their encounter with the Ravener and how he escaped. It had been hard sending it off, hard to admit their failure, but eventually Soul and Maka gave in and let Hedwig, Harry's owl, carry it away. But it seemed the DWMA was determined not to reply.

"Now what?" Soul paced across the length of the Room of Requirement, raking his fingers through his disheveled white hair. "What do we do? I mean, why aren't they replying?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Black Star kicked at the iron plating beneath his feet. "They're obviously not going to reply until we get the job done. We've shamed them in some way." His hand traced across the skin of his arm, torn black and blue from their attack on the Ravener.

"No, they can't be it." Tsubaki's face was torn between pity and shame. "Right? That can't be it."

"No," Maka shook her head. She propped her chin in her hands, twirling the end of her pigtail between her fingers. "That can't be it. Lord Death knows us better than that. He knows we wouldn't just screw up. He would've asked why we weren't back yet."

"And you tried that mirror thing?" Harry was poking at the floor-length mirror propped against the left wall. "I mean, you did it that one time . . ."

"Yeah, I know." Maka scratched her head. "Bu every time I call . . . there's no answer." Her green eyes slipped shut. "That's so unlike Lord Death."

"We're on our own."

Kid sat at the base of a column with his arms crossed over his chest. He was made of darkness. Black lines and shadowy angles. His hair melded seamlessly into the black background behind him. Even his characteristic white streaks seemed diminished, grey instead of white.

Liz and Patty stood hunched behind him, glaring darkly at their pale meister.

"There's nothing we can do." Kid stood slowly, slouching against the column with one foot tucked up under him. "But sit and wait."

"For what?" Soul's eyes narrowed uneasily.

The pale reaper shrugged, turning away with an air of disinterest. But his hands were clenched into tight fists at his sides. Soul noticed the tendons standing out sharply against the skin. The white-haired weapon wrinkled his nose, lowering his eyebrows even further down his brow.

"Relax, 'kay?" Ron said after the reaper left with his weapons trailing behind him. He clapped Maka on the back and drew Soul into a half-hug with an arm around his shoulder. "Everything'll be okay, yeah? We'll help ya, no matter what happens."

"Yeah, we've got you." Ginny nodded, standing side by side with Neville, Luna, and the Weasley twins. "You don't have to worry about anything but that Ravener guy."

"What do you think he meant?" Maka's brow furrowed into a dark scowl. "When he . . ." She gestured down at her arm.

"Whatever it is, it's not good." Back on familiar territory, Harry strode forward, playing with the dark bangs concealing his scar. "Whenever Voldemort's involved, people end up dead. Wizards, Muggles, meisters, it doesn't matter."

"It's a good thing we made that deal, then, huh?" Black Star stepped forward, shrugging off his sadness. "Right, Harry?"

The dark-haired wizard blinked at Black Star with a shade of shock in his eyes.

"What?" Black Star frowned defensively. "I can be serious when I want to."

"That thing." Maka was pointing at her arm, eyes fuzzy with memory. "That . . . _symbol_ on that guy's arm . . . what was it?"

"It's the mark of a Death Eater." Harry kicked at the ground, face narrowed in fury. "The Dark Mark. It's like Voldemort's official seal."

"Hmm." Maka was scratching at her sleeve.

"So whatever it is up they're up to, we've got to find some way to stop it." The words sounded sure and confident in his head, but came out like a cry for help.

The group nodded slowly, weary with acceptance.

For although they had a plan, it seemed there was no way to act upon it.

Winter break drew nearer with still no reply from the DWMA. Days passed, classes continued. Soul learned how to appropriately crush enough wormwood to use in his cauldron. Black Star managed to get the Quaffle past the Gryffindor keeper. Malfoy tripped Soul in the hallway and consulted him in the common room, making sure to keep their interactions at a bare minimum. Maka healed while Kid regressed further and further into madness.

On the surface, everything was okay. The meisters and weapons were tired and stretched beyond their limits. The wizards and witches were made of stress. But, things were manageable. It seemed they might just make it. To Winter Break, at least, if not through the rest of the school year.

But beneath it all, a storm was brewing.

The Battle of Hogwarts was nearing.

Soul and Malfoy. An odd pair, those two. But, undoubtedly, an incredible duo.

They exchanged words in the darkness of the Slytherin dungeon. Apart from everyone else, they sat together in a corner with their legs propped up against silver-green couch cushions. Soul flipped upside down with his head hanging below the couch and Malfoy poised above him, resting on the armchair of his seat. To anyone else, it would have looked as if Malfoy was tormenting Soul. Of course, he was, albeit in a round-about way. He was helping Soul unveil the machinations behind Kid's behavior which tormented Soul better than any cruel words could have.

"He's up to something."

"Well, thank you, Captian Obvious."

"Don't get snarky with me, Eater."

"You've been saying that for the past week and a half but we're no closer to uncovering what it is he's doing."

"He knows I'm onto him."

"Eh?"

"He's stopped talking in the mirror. And now, every time he's near me, he just gives me this look."

"What do you mean?"

"He makes a face."

"What kind of face?"

"Kind of like . . . _this_."

"That's his normal face, you idiot."

"If anyone's the idiot here, it's you, Eater, for coming to a wizard school when you're not even a wizard!"

"Awww, did I hurt your feelings, Malfoy? I'm sorry."

"You can stuff that sarcasm up your ass."

"Ooohhh, shots fired."

"Shut up, Eater."

"Careful, Malfoy." A wicked grin played around Soul's lips. "Harry might get jealous."

The blonde's cheeks flushed velvet and Soul laughed so hard he fell off his chair.

Eventually, they returned to Kid and his slow descent into madness.

"Are you sure?" Soul refused to give up hope that his friend was still locked away in that dark cranium. "I mean, he's my . . ."

"He's not." Malfoy's lips tipped down in a sideways frown. "Your friend, I mean. Whatever he took from Maka, that madness, it's broken him. His weapons too. They're starting to act all weird."

"I don't see it." He thought back to Patty's sullen behavior in the Gryffindor common room last night.

"No." Malfoy watched Soul carefully. "You _refuse _to see it."

Soul bared his shark teeth at the slimy blonde, flipping up so they were face-to-face. "And so what if I am?" he growled. "These are my friends."

"I gathered." Malfoy was unflappably calm in the face of Soul's anger. "That doesn't change anything."

"This isn't right." Soul stood up shakily, digging his hands into his spiky white hair. "I'm the only one." His hand fisted in his t-shirt above the wiry black scar arching across his chest. "They can't have the black blood. _I_ have it. I'm the only one who's supposed to have it. Not them."

"What happened?" Malfoy flopped into the seat Soul abandoned, stretching his arms over the back.

Soul blinked. His hand knotted into a tighter fist around the material of his shirt. "What do you mean?"

"Your scar." Malfoy jerked his head towards Soul. "Potter tells me you've got your own battle wound. So what's the deal?"

The corner of Soul's sharp mouth peeled down. "_Harry_ told you that?"

Malfoy shrugged. "Not purposefully. He did it to make me angry, I suppose." He pulled his wand out of his back pocket, tipping it up to the ceiling and studiously inspecting the end.

Soul's angry expression softened. "Oh."

"Oh?"

Soul tugged a chair close to Malfoy, flipping it backwards and hanging his arms off the top. "You really want to know?"

Malfoy slid Soul a wide-eyed look. "I think it might help our . . ." He searched for the word. "_Investigation_," he said finally.

Soul jerked his head around the empty common room. Dark shadows had slipped across the room during their conversation. Sickly green flames erupted in the fireplace, casting the room in a washed green glow. Even the portraits were gone, visiting happier portions of the castle and abandoning their own dreary frames.

"Okay." Soul lowered his brows over eyes the color of rubies. "Here goes."

**Maka**

"This is SO not fair." She crossed her arms over her chest indignantly.

"It's completely fair," George Weasley aimed his wand at her chest, twirling the tip in a circle. "You don't have a partner."

"And that makes you this week's dummy!" Fred grinned, also levelling his wand at the small meister.

Maka pouted. "It's not my fault my partner's a jerk!"

"I'm sure Soul will be here." Tsubaki linked her arms behind her back, standing far off to the side beside her sleeping meister. "He's probably just late."

"Sorry, Maka." George's grin rivaled the Cheshire cat's in wickedness.

"We'll make this as painless as possible," his twin said with an echoed grin.

Ten minutes later and Maka was limping off the main floor of the Room of Requirement. Harry and Ron stood together close to the door, talking in low, hushed voices. Maka headed towards them, straightening the crick out of her back from Fred's contortionist curse. The two saw her coming and their faces grew pale, glowing, practically luminescent, in the blue light of the Room of Requirement.

"Harry?" Maka stood up as straight as she could, propping her hands on her hips. "What's going o–?"

"Look out!" Luna's dreamy voice was a second too late.

A silver hare darted around Maka's head, whisking her ashy blonde hair in a slight whirlwind.

"What the –!" Maka took two steps back and her heel caught on the iron plating cast upon the ground.

"Gotcha." Ginny caught the meister by the armpits, propping her back on her feet.

"What is that?" Maka blinked as the bunny hopped towards them, wrinkling its small pale nose.

"Whoa." Ginny's face was twisted up in an awed half grin. "Luna, is that your patronus?"

"Sorry, Maka." Luna moved towards them with a pale smile. "I didn't mean to cast her so close to you."

"What's a patronus?" Maka blinked, transfixed by the small silver bunny. She watched as it hopped in place, folding one of its ears over with a small paw. "And why is it so cute?"

"Nicely done, Luna." Harry moved towards them with an appreciative grin. "What memory did you use?"

"My happiest." Luna's smile was anchored in memory. She stretched her wand out towards the small bunny and it twitched, hopping and resting on the very tip. Luna drew the small bunny towards her chest, reaching out to pet the silver air around its semi-corporeal back. "Her name is Sarafina."

"Hi, Sarafina." Maka's grin was too big for her face. She reached out towards the little bunny with a finger, poking its little ear. She jerked back with a yelp as the little bunny turned in her direction, nipping lightly at the offending finger.

"Aww." Luna nuzzled the little bunny back into her wand, smiling softly as it disappeared, leaving a light silver glaze over the air in its place. "She likes you."

"Hey, Maka." Ron stood beside Harry, fidgeting with his arms crossed solidly over his chest. "Can we talk to you for a sec?"

Maka nodded, staring absently at Luna's wand. "Sure thing."

Ginny nudged Maka in the direction of her brother, rolling her eyes with a grin. Harry reached out and took Maka's hand, bringing the ashy blonde meister back to reality. She blinked in confusion as they tugged her far away from the rest of the group, pressing her into the shadows of the Room of Requirement, away from the prying eyes of the DA.

"What's going on?" A scowl of confusion bloomed across her pale face.

"We've got some bad news for you." Ron leaned against the wall to her right, kicking at the iron plating beneath his feet.

"About . . .?"

Ron met her eyes for half a second before tearing his gaze away, shame-faced. "You're not gonna like it."

Maka rolled her eyes between the two wizards, letting her light scowl blossom into a full-blown glare. "Tell me."

"We've got an idea about how to get Kid thinking straight again." Harry ran his hands through his messy hair, pulling at the black locks in frustration.

"That's not bad news." Maka's stomach was roiling uncomfortably as the faces of the two students darkened. "Or is it?"

"There's this . . . thing," Ron began.

"A _mirror_," Harry clarified.

Maka crossed her arms over her chest, leaning her back against the cold stone of the DA headquarters. "Go on."

**Soul**

Silence rested between the two teens when Soul finished. Malfoy's face was twisted like he'd been punched in the gut. Soul's hand was resting on his throbbing scar, fisting the thin material of his shirt with long, thin fingers.

"That's . . ." Malfoy wasn't able to say much more.

Soul filled in the blanks with a sardonic grin. "Yeah," he said finally. "It's not a sob story like Harry's, but it's . . ." His hand twitched around his shirt. "Well, it's my life."

"And Maka's." Malfoy kept his gaze on the ground, letting his clasped hands hang between his knees.

"True." Soul slid the blonde a look out of the corner of his ruby eyes. "She's mixed up in all this crap too."

"I'm an ass." Malfoy's voice was low, meant only for himself.

But Soul couldn't resist. "You kind of are."

More silence. Then the harsh sound of Malfoy's laughter.

"I think I can help," he said after a moment. "With Kid, I mean."

"I thought that was supposed to be my job."

"And if I thought you could handle it, I'd let you do it."

"Watch it, Malfoy."

"Easy, shark-tooth." Malfoy's grin sparkled wickedly. "I'm not here to fight."

"Don't call me that." Soul shook his head, linking his hands behind his head. "Just don't."

"Right." Malfoy's bright eyes darkened a shade, but he nodded anyway, turning away and heading towards the door to the Slytherin common room. "That's Ron's nickname for you."

"Hey!" Soul stood, strolling after the blonde. "Where are you going?"

"I know things about this school that would make your white head spin," Malfoy said with a secret smile.

"And does one of things involve helping Kid?"

Malfoy turned away and opened the door to the dungeon letting a floor of dark light wash across the threshold. "What do you think?"

**Maka **

"So you're telling me . . ."

**Soul **

"That we've got to go . . ."

**Maka**

"Steal the Mirror . . ."

**Soul **

"Steal a mirror . . ."

**Maka and Soul**

"FROM UMBRIDGE?!"


End file.
